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The 

B0ST0NI7\N 

Society 

Publications 

Vol. 1 




Boston 
Old Sthte House 



MDCCCLXXX¥I-i:iII. 



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sT.RMARVIN&SO 
^? PRINTERS %•£ 






WILLIAM BLAXTON 



BY 



THOMAS COFFIN AMORY. 



A Paper read before the Society, November 9, 1880. 



COPYRIGHT. 



BOSTONIAN SOCIETY. 



CONTENTS. 



William Blaxton ........ 

By Tkofnas C. Amory, 

Abel Bowen ......... 

By William H. Whittnore. 

Changes of Values in Real Estate in Boston the 
Past One Hundred Years ..... 
By Alexander S. Porter. 



29 



57 



ENGRAVINGS. 



Portraits of Abel Bowen and Eliza Healy opp. 29 

Head-band (engraved by Bowen) 29 

Bo wen's First Wood-cut 32 

Portrait of Daniel Bowen (by Kyle) opp. 33 

Cuts by Bowen : — 

Tiger Hunt 33 

Trimountain in 1630 41 

Birthplace of Franklin 42 

Interior of Faneuil Hall 43 

Quincy Market 43 

Steel Plates of Buildings 48-56 

[For Alphabetical List see pp. 83, 8j.] 

Cuts from Bowen's " Naval Monument," Public Buildings, etc., indexed consecu- 
tively, pages not numbered, following p. 56 : — 



The " Constitution" taking the " Cyane" 
and " Levant." 

The " Constitution ' escaping from the 
British Squadron. 

The " Hornet " sinking the " Peacock." 

The "Java" surrendering to the "Con- 
stitution." 

Escape of the " Hornet." 

Commodores in the U. S. Navy. 

Fitchburg Railroad Depot. 

Quincy House, Brattle Street, Boston. 

Maine Railroad Depot, Boston. 

Business Card. 



Providence Railroad Depot. 

Old Colony Railroad Depot. 

Boston Museum Interior. 

Worcester Railroad Depot. 

Boston Museum Exterior. 

Old Marlboro' Hotel. 

Advertising Card. 

Eastern Railroad Depot. 

Boston Custom House. 

Portrait of Bowen by himself. 

Ornamental Cut. 

Dr. Faustus. 

Cut from the Young Lady's Book, 1830. 



The Old Curtis House 



opp. 72 



I 11 H II "■ ■■' " »l 111 ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■— — »T 




T ■! II II 1 1 I I tl f ** •' ■■ «« ■■ ■■ ■■ f 



WILLIAM BLAXTON. 

'595-1675- 



FOR several years before Winthrop came in 1630, William 
Blaxton constituted the entire population of this penin- 
sula, which, until comparatively recent accretions from 
the sea, and annexation of adjacent places, substantially com- 
prised the area to which attached the name of Boston. 

That in this then unbroken wilderness of woods traversed 
by savages, by wolves and other wild beasts almost as danger- 
ous, he should have been contented to dwell, solitary and alone, 
exposed to such various perils, with the few planters around 
too remote to be of help in case of need, is of itself a claim to 
be remembered. But besides his courage and independence 
there was much else that was estimable in his character, 
in his tastes and ways, to justify the place he holds in our 
regard. 

His culture and refinement, his gentlemanly bearing, his 
fondness for flowers and their patient cultivation, his amiable 
disposition and ready hospitalities gained him the confidence 
and friendship not only of the lords of the forest but inspired 
with respect the Puritan leaders. These noble traits, this 
love of nature, his sacred calling, his trust and faith, invest 
whatever relates to him with a peculiar, and, it may be said, 



4 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 4 

with romantic interest for us, who have assumed the grateful 
responsibility of preserving and transmitting what is worthy 
of note in our legendary history. 

Whence he came, what motives led him to dwell apart from 
his kindred and to avoid all intercourse here or at home with 
society, which he possessed so many graces to adorn and 
aptitudes to enjoy, has baffled investigation. It remains, and 
may still be destined ever to remain, an impenetrable mystery. 
That mystery perhaps it would be presumption for me to hope 
to elucidate. Some of our ablest local historians have es- 
steemed the task worthy of their thoughtful consideration, 
and their labors have not been altogether without fruit. 
Much has been brought to light at least to stimulate curiosity 
if not to satisfy it. 

If diffident of any power to add to the information about 
him which has been thus gradually accumulating, often some 
bold hypothesis, if not illogical or improbable, may open paths 
for future exploration. In common with many others of our 
associates, one of my favorite branches of genealogical study 
has been that department of family history which connects 
our earliest American ancestors with their old world progeni- 
tors. One possible clue to Blaxton's I propose presently to 
submit for your more critical investigation. Should it prove 
his parentage to be as suggested, it will add another agreeable 
incident to what already makes him memorable. If not, it 
may help to discover who his parents were. 

Before, however, engaging your attention with what relates 
to his parentage or youthful associations, it may be well to 
refresh your memory with what concerns his residence here. 
For a long period a misapprehension has existed and still lin- 
gers in the minds of many who have not studied the subject, 
that, while our sole inhabitant, his house and gardens were 
near the end of Leverett street, at Barton's Point, not far 
from where now stands the Lowell railroad freight station. 
Although corrected by Mr. Bowditch in his " Gleaner " thirty 
years ago, and his abode proved beyond possibility of doubt 
to have been some little distance above the corner of Charles 



5 WILLIAM BLAXTON. S 

and Beacon streets, several notices of Blaxton in our public 
prints, elicited by late commemorations, have reasserted the 
earlier conclusions which Mr. Bowditch proved to have been 
a mistake. What is said by the early authorities as to his 
residence seems sufficiently clear and reliable. After en- 
deavoring to show how the error originated, and what we 
know of him here, we propose to suggest what may prove 
his ancestral line. 

As he was eighty years of age when he died in 1675, 
he must have been born about 1595. He graduated at 
Emmanuel, the Puritan College of Cambridge, from which pro- 
ceeded so many of our most eminent divines, taking his degree 
as Bachelor of Arts in 161 7, and as Master in 162 1. On 
both these occasions he signed his name William Blaxton, 
with the X, as appears from the fac similes of his signatures, 
procured from England by Mr. Tuttle, by whose kindness I 
am permitted to submit them for your inspection. He also 
most generously allowed me to use his collection of material, 
he like myself having made the history of Blaxton his study, 
when his honored life came to an end. 

Blaxton took orders, but had no known cure, being a non- 
conformist and detesting prelacy, as exhibited in Bancroft and 
Laud. His canonical coat, which Johnson tells us he contin- 
ued to wear in America, shows that he was still attached to 
the English Church, and regarded himself as a teacher of its 
tenets. Though he rarely preached, and that when advanced 
in life, the ten large manuscript volumes which he had in his 
library when he died, may have consisted wholly or in part 
of sermons of his own composition. They were consumed, 
with all his other books, and with his house, at Study Hill, 
soon after his death in King Philip's war. It is said that he 
had trained a steer for the saddle and used it when he visited 
Boston, or went down to Richard Smith's fine old mansion, 
still at Wickford on the Narragansett shore, which was also 
a favorite resort of Roger Williams. On one occasion when 
he visited Providence for the purpose of religious teach- 
ing, he carried in his saddle bags some of the fine apples for 



6 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 6 

which his orchard was famous, and distributed them among 
his very hmited audience. They no doubt added an accept- 
able flavor to his discourses. 

Lechford, the lawyer, says in 1635 that Blaxton had lived 
in Boston nine or ten years. If so, he must have come here 
as early as 1625. The whole neck of land which contained 
seven hundred acres and was four miles in circuit, he no doubt 
considered his own. We now know that he selected for his 
home the southerly and sunny slope of Beacon Hill, near the 
back basin of the Charles, and certainly he could not have made 
a wiser choice. Parker and Corey Hills across the bay, with 
Charles River, and Muddy and Stony Brooks flowing between 
them, or on either side, for beaver or fish, he was well placed 
to procure the choicest food, to raise his apples and roses, and 
to secure from the Indians or by his own industry the skins 
which were current money with the merchant. Here he was 
the less disturbed when Winthrop came, as many of his com- 
pany preferred the harbor and the neighborhood of Charles- 
town, in order to be near their associates who had declined 
to cross over the river. 

It is now generally conceded that Blaxton came to America 
with Robert Gorges, who, in 1623, established a settlement at 
Weymouth, under a patent of an area of ten miles along the 
shore by thirty inland. We know that he was empowered in 
1629 by John Gorges, the brother of Robert, then dead, to 
deliver Mr. John Oldham seisin of a grant of five miles under 
that patent, as far as Saugus, along Charles River. The 
Gorges patent is reasonably presumed to have been abandoned, 
or in due form surrendered, before the Massachusetts Bay 
patent of 1627 issued ; but all grants under it must have, in 
equity, if not in express terms, been reserved. The records of 
the Company in London and letters of Cradock to Endicott 
show that importance was attached to these rights, already 
vested, of the old planters, as they were called, to secure 
releases of which, if they could, was their policy, but not 
to recognize their validity while outstanding. If, as seems 
quite probable, Blaxton had any like legal claim to what was 



7 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 7 

known as Blackstone's Neck, or Point, he did not allow it to 
stand in the way of his humanity. Moved to compassion by 
the great mortality of the colonists at Charlestown, from 
want of pure water in the summer of 1630, he invited them 
over to what, from the abundance of its springs, was called 
by the Indians Shawmut. If he considered himself rightfully 
entitled to exclusive possession by grant or prescription, he 
made no hard bargain when he gave his invitation. 

Blaxton was admitted a freeman in 163 1. In 1633 it was 
agreed that he should have fifty acres of ground set out to 
him, near his house in Boston, to enjoy forever. In 1634 he 
released all except six acres, in a general release of the whole 
peninsula. That the training-field, or common, then dedi- 
cated to public uses, constituted these other forty-four acres 
— long its approximate area 43I acres and ten rods — hardly 
needs corroboration. In 1635 the Court, then held at New- 
town, ordered Nahanton to pay Blaxton two beaver-skins for 
damage done to his swine by setting traps ; and, in 1638, 
he had a grant of land at Muddy River, for three heads. 

In the spring of 1635 he left Boston for the place he so 
long made his abode — six miles from Providence — on that 
part of Pawtucket River afterwards called for him the 
Blackstone. It is generally admitted, that before 1642 he 
had sold his six acres to Richard Pepys, who, the next year, 
requested leave to purchase land of the town near Blackstone 
Point and Beach. But there is no recorded deed of convey- 
ance from him, or from Richard Pepys to anyone else. That 
in the absence of any such evidence so little should be known 
of his abode is easily accounted for, especially when we 
remember the state of the ground about it, or what our 
Registry was before the days of Mr. Bowditch and our present 
able conveyancers. 

What was first designated Trimountain, and not long 
afterwards Beacon Hill — the name what is left of it still 
bears — even down to the present century rose nearly one 
hundred feet in elevation above its present summit. It 
covered one hundred acres, was steep and rough, and so 



8 WJLLIAM BLAXTON. 8 

complicated in its slopes that before Thomas Hancock in 
1737 erected his spacious mansion near its crest there were 
upon this large area but few dwellings. Much of it was held 
in large lots of from two to six acres, and not often chang- 
ing ownership, less attention was drawn to their record title. 
When, however, fifty years before Hancock purchased, the 
Colonial Charter was annulled by the crown, and proprietors 
under it threatened with the loss of their estates on the pre- 
text that their grants had not been passed under the Charter 
Seal, the colonists naturally took into consideration what 
other titles they had which would be respected. Deeds of 
confirmation of the early conveyances from the Indian Saga- 
mores were obtained from them or their representatives, and 
depositions in pcrpctuain of the older inhabitants taken for 
evidence, which might possibly be of use, should attempts be 
made to carry out these iniquitous proceedings. 

Among these depositions was one dated June loth, 1684, 
in which John Odlin, aged seventy, and other ancient 
dwellers and inhabitants of Boston, testified "that about 
the year 1634 the inhabitants purchased of Mr. William 
Blackstone his estate and right in any lands lying within the 
neck of land called Boston, each householder paying six 
shillings, and some more, excepting six acres reserved by him 
on the point called Blackstone Point, on part whereof his 
then dwelling-house stood. After which purchase the town 
laid out a place for a training field, which ever since, and 
now, is used for that purpose, and for the feeding of cattle. 
Robert Walker and William Lytherland further testified that 
Mr. Blackstone bought a stock of cows with the money, and 
removed and dwelt near Providence, where he lived to the 
day of his death. 

" Before S. Bradstreet. 
S. Sew ALL." 

Another of these depositions, which identifies the site of 
Blaxton's house as between Charles and Spruce Streets on 
Beacon Street, and with the grounds set down on the Burgiss 



9 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 9 

map of 1728 as Banister's Gardens is recorded as follows: 
(Suffolk Deeds, 26, 84.) 

"The deposition of Anne Pollard of Boston, widow, aged 
about eighty-nine years. This deponent testifieth and saith : 
that this deponent's husband, Mr. William Pollard, occupied 
and improved a certain piece or parcel of land situated near 
the bottom of the Common at the westerly part thereof, in 
Boston aforesaid, and bounded on the sea south-west, for 
many years ; and that her said husband had hired the same 
of Richard Peepys, late of Boston aforesaid, gentleman, 
deceased, who often told this deponent that he, the said 
Peepys, bought the said land of Mr. Blackstone, clerk, former- 
ly of Boston aforesaid ; and further that deponent saith that 
the said Peepys built a house thereon, wherein this deponent 
and her said husband dwelt for near fourteen years, during 
which time the said Blackstone used frequently to resort 
thereto ; and this deponent never heard any controversy 
between him and the said Peepys about the said land, but 
that the same was always reputed to belong to him, as this 
deponent understood ; and she further says that soon after 
the sale thereof, as she supposeth, the said Blackstone re- 
moved from this town of Boston ; and further saith not. 

" Anne Pollard. 
"Boston, December 26th, 171 1." 

As Randolph, who represented prerogative in this unholy 
warfare upon colonial rights, had requested that a portion of 
the training-field should be set off to him for his residence, 
this deposition may have been taken to prove existing rights 
of common in the land, such as were then respected in 
England, to defeat his purpose. These deeds and depositions, 
valuable at the time, in the progress of events when their 
estates were no longer in jeopardy, though on file in the 
public offices, were not often in mind. The colonists, indus- 
trious people of many cares, had too much else to do to study 
ancient documents. They were in charge of officials, not so 
open as now to inspection, and if they had been, not easily 



lo WILLIAM BLAXrON. lo 

understood, as the modes of expression were less plain. The 
depositions themselves do not exist, and probably were con- 
sumed in the Town House in 1747. Nor is it much to be 
wondered at, that even where recorded they should have 
rarely been inspected. 

All of us accustomed to examine titles either in the Regis- 
try or Probate Office before the late improved arrangement 
of Judge Wright, and the classified indices — when every 
volume of deeds had its separate index, many of them tattered 
and torn — must admit that antiquarian or historical enthu- 
siasm might well have shrunk from self-imposed tasks pursued 
at such disadvantage. Some of the earlier records were in a 
handwriting difficult to decipher. Professional men able to 
read them and competent to understand them, cared little to 
waste their time in researches that earned no compensation. 
This deposition of Anne Pollard when eighty-seven years of 
age, taken December 26th, 171 1, seems to have long escaped 
observation. It supplies one of the missing links of the 
whereabouts of Blaxton's house and his six acres ; another 
being the deed of the Brockatts to Nathaniel Williams, 9, 

325- 

While preparing a metrical sketch of Blaxton in 1876, to 
help save the Old South, I endeavored to ascertain in the 
Registry on what Mr. Bowditch rested his conclusion. I 
followed back the title of Mr. Copley, who had before 1770 
purchased the property, twenty acres and more in extent, all 
substantially between Beacon and Pinckney Streets, Walnut 
and the water. This now valuable property passed from 
Copley to Otis and Mason in 1795. 

In working on the W^illiams title, I found, I am sure, un- 
aided, as Mr. Bowditch had earlier, the deed dated April 14th, 
1676, Lib. 9, fol. 325, by which Peter Brockatt, and Mary, his 
wife, in consideration of the will of her first husband, Na- 
thaniel Williams, and love and affection, conveyed to her 
children, Nathaniel Williams and Mary Vinal, certain estates 
in Boston, — among them this : " As also that six acres of 
land, be it more or less, with the appurtenances thereto ad- 



II WILLIAM BLAXTON. ii 

joining and belonging to the said messuage, known by the 
name of the Blackstone lot, which was formerly purchased 
by Nathaniel Williams, deceased, aforesaid, of and from 
Richard Pepys, of Ashon, in the County of Essex, and Mary, 
his wife, their act bearing date 30th day of January, Anno 
Domini Christi, 1655." The elder Williams — whose will was 
dated 22, 2d mo., 1661, and proved Aug. ist, 1661 — left his 
wife absolutely one-third of his estate, valued at ;^994. It 
included the Blackstone lot, valued at ^^150. On Beacon 
street she resided with her second husband, Mr. Brockatt. 

Nathaniel Williams, the younger, held this estate until 
January 29th, 1708, when, by Lib. 24, fol. 103, he, and Sarah, 
his wife, conveyed to Thomas Banister, for ;^I30, "all the 
said Williams orchards and pasture land, containing six acres, 
at the northwesterly side of the common, or training-field, en- 
closed and within fences, and the flats lying against the same, 
down to low water mark, the said upland and flats being 
butted and bounded on the northwesterly side in part by 
Charles River and a cove, and partly by the lands of John 

Leverett and Tames Allen, on whom it also abuts, to north- 

< 

east : easterly in part by the land of the said James Allen, 
and partly on the land of said Thomas Banister : and south- 
erly by the common, or training-field." 

If this lot extended along shore about 1,000 feet, it would 
have bounded in the common about 340, and, as the tide 
then flowed up Beacon at least probably 200 feet above 
Charles street, the area comprised in six acres would have 
extended to Pinckney street, about 800 feet, where it met the 
Leverett estate, 1,100 feet from Cambridge street. On the 
maps of Bonner, 1722, and Burgiss, 1728, these gardens are 
laid down near the river side. A knob on the water-line indi- 
cates a promontory, probably that ending in Fox Hill, about 
the present junction of Arlington and Beacon streets, some 
hundred feet in length, which may have been Blaxton's Point. 

While the property continued in Nathaniel Williams, the 
Court records reveal an incident which carries us back to the 
Blue Laws of Puritan days : John Wheally, servant to Hugh 



12 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 12 

Mulligan Smith, being arrested, acknowledged that he was 
yesterday, being the Sabbath, in an orchard at the bottom of 
the common between bells ringing for the afternoon exer- 
cises, when he took and gathered some pears, and then went 
into a pasture next by, where a negro was keeping sheep, and 
lay down by him until the constable came and took him. He 
had gone with him some little way, when he took to his heels 
and ran. Upon consideration that it was a third conviction, 
the profanation of the Sabbath, and his escape from the con- 
stable, he was sentenced to pay twenty shillings, money fine ; 
or, if his master refused to pay it for him, sentenced to be 
whipped with ten stripes, and to stand committed till his 
sentence was performed. 

John Banister of Newport, R. I., Samuel of Stoughton, 
Mass., and Frances Bowes sued Nathaniel Cunningham, who 
as plaintiff, in review, recovered judgment, 1769, and sold 
Copley.* 

We do not propose to follow, farther, the title of the Blax- 
ton lot. It stands as follows : 

Gorges patent from the Council of ten miles by thirty : Gorges to 
Blaxton : Blaxton from inhabitants, fifty acres : Blaxton to inhabit- 
ants, general release of peninsula except six acres : Blaxton to 
Richard Pepys, six acres : Richard Pepys to Nathaniel Williams, 
1655: Nathaniel Williams' will to wife, 1661 : Mrs. Brockatt, to 
Nathaniel Williams and Mary Vinal, 1666: Nathaniel Williams 
to Thomas Banister, 1708, 24, 103: Thomas Banister's heirs were 
Thomas, Samuel, John who died s. p. June 30th, 1784, Thomas, 
Chamberlin, Annesley, Samuel, and Frances, wife of William 
Bowes. The last-mentioned Samuel sold Nathaniel Cunningham, 
1733 and died 1744. 

Such being the record evidence of Blaxton's home, how 
could so great an error have originated } On Wood's map the 
peninsula shoots out a mile and a half into the sea, with 
broad water-spaces all around it, but where it is connected 
towards the south and west with Roxbury. From Charles- 

* See Court Records of 1769. 



13 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 13 

town elevations it appeared divided by an isthmus into two 
portions, one was the mill-pond and the town dock, — not far 
apart at high tide. Wood, in his New England's Prospect, 
M. H. S. C, says, that "about a mile up the river was a small 
creek, taking its name from Major General Edward Gibbons, 
who dwelt there some years. On the south side of the river, 
on a point of land called Blaxton's Point, planted Mr. William 
Blackstone." 

Johnson, M. H. S. C., 12, 86, informs us that, "on the north 
side of Charles River, on Noddle's Island, they found Mr. 
Maverick ; a mile higher up on a creek. General Gibbons ; 
and, on the south side, on a point of land called Blaxton's 
Point, Mr. William Blaxton. To the southeast of him, near 
Thompson's Island, lived some few planters more. These 
persons were the first planters in those parts having some 
small trade with the Indians for beaver-skins." Both Wood 
and Johnson, in these descriptions, attach the name of Blax- 
ton to the whole peninsula, as Blaxton Point. 

The Charlestown Records were transcribed by John Greene 
in 1664. The first seven pages compiled by Mr. Greene, from 
information of known gentlemen that lived and were actors in 
those times, were approved by the selectmen. On page 380, 
Young's Chronicles, Chap. XIX, which prints this record, we 
find this passage : 

"In the meantime [viz., 1630] Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on 
the other side of Charles River, alone, at a place by the 
Indians called Shawmut, where he only had a cottage at, or 
not far ojf, the place called Blackstone' s Point, he came and 
acquainted the Governor of an excellent spring there, inviting 
him and soliciting him thither. Whereupon, after the death 
of Mr. Isaac Johnson (30th September, 1630), and divers 
others, the Governor, and the greatest part of the church, 
removed thither." What, with the one hundred rod ordinance, 
and commissioners' lines, the configuration of Boston has 
been so completely changed that it is difficult for us to con- 
ceive what it was in Blaxton's days. When the Charles- 
town records were made up, in 1664, or Pemberton wrote his 



14 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 14 

topographical account in 1792, what was at the earliest period 
seven hundred acres, though now thrice that area, was much 
as nature made it. 

No other evidence appears in these earlier authorities to de- 
termine whereabouts on the peninsula Blaxton dwelt, unless it 
be in the phrase in the Charlestown records, " where he only 
had a cottage at, or not far off, the place called Blackstone's 
Point." There is no reason to believe that what was after- 
wards Barton's Point (from James, the rope-maker, 1643-1729, 
who removed thence to Newton in 1688, and gave it its name), 
was ever known as Blaxton's Point, except as part of the 
whole peninsula. We do know that some smaller promon- 
tory near his actual abode was called Blaxton's Point. But 
this may have been the rounded shore, on Burgiss's map, or 
a projection where Beacon street ended. The new fields on 
Barton's Point were early laid out and divided, and the pro- 
prietors held, in many instances, in large lots, — Governor 
Leverett holding at least twenty acres. It seems difficult to 
believe that Blaxton could ever have selected this exposed 
position on the northeast of the hills ; and, certainly in the 
absence of any record-title, which would justify even a doubt, 
we may safely say that he never did. The orchards he had 
planted on the bay opposite what we now call the mouth of 
Charles River, were already well grown when Winthrop 
came, as Stephen Hopkins says in his account of Providence. 

The first statement discovered, that Barton's Point was 
ever called Blaxton's, is in the Topographical and Historical 
Description of Boston, by Thomas Pemberton, born 1728, 
which was published in 1794, in 3d Vol. Mass. Historical 
Society's Collections, 241. He says that " these adventurers, 
informed by a Mr. Blaxton, said to be the first Englishman 
who had slept upon the peninsula, and who resided at that 
part of West Boston now called Barton's Point, of a spring, 
crossed over." 

The next allusion in time, to Blaxton, is by Charles Shaw, 
in his description of Boston in 18 17, p. 103, in which he quotes 
from the memoirs of the American Academy, an article on 



15 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 15 

the waters of Boston, drawn up by Dr. John Lathrop, in 1800. 
In this he states that the spring Blaxton mentioned to Win- 
throp as an inducement to transferring his company to the 
Boston side, was the spring now to be seen (1800) on the 
westerly part of the town '• near the bay which divides Boston 
from Cambridge." This, evidently, intended the spring in 
Louisburg Square. Page 32, he quotes Roger Clap's state- 
ment, that the Governor, " viewing Newton or Cambridge, 
liked that plain neck that was then called Blaxton's Neck 
now Boston." 

Dr. Caleb N. Snow, in his History of Boston, published in 
1825, mentions Blaxton, but throws no additional light upon 
where he dwelt, simply quoting what had been said by the 
earliest writers. He gives, however, a graphic picture of the 
hundred acres covered by Beacon Hill, 112, and says, "that 
on the top of one of the peaks near Pinckney, opposite the 
Charles Street Meeting House, eighty feet above the water, 
was, and continues to be, a boiling-spring, now open in three 
places." He speaks of Fox Hill as having disappeared. Dr. 
Young, in his Chronicles, 169, 1846, says, Blaxton resided 
on Barton's Point ; but none of the authorities cited, when 
tested, support the statement, unless it be Mr. Drake, 1856, 
who* was of the opinion that the Blaxton spring might have 
been one under the house, 19 Poplar street, which he occupied 
in 1838. 

Dr. Shurtleff, in his History of Boston, 1871, page 392, 
mentions a " spring not far from the centre of Louisburg 
Square, which poured a bountiful supply of water, and which 
was, unquestionably, the identical spring which yielded its 
benevolence to Mr. Blaxton, and the earliest inducement that 
led the fathers of the town to the peninsula." "Another 
spring flowed on the northwest side of Spring street." By 
those who supposed Barton's Point identical with Blaxton's, 
this was considered to be Blaxton's spring. But such was 
not the case. Blaxton's Point, Dr. Shurtleff says, "was in the 

* Vide pp. 50, 95, 96, 97, 239, 278, 530, 531, 600. 



1 6 WILLIAM BLAXTON. i6 

neighborhood of West Cedar street, between Cambridge and 
Pinckney streets." " Southeast of this was situated Blaxton's 
garden, and, not far distant, the memorable spring which 
supplied him with water." The garden is designated on 
Burgiss's map as Bannister's garden. 

We presume this to be correct and conclusive, though 
possibly the point intended in Pepys's application may have 
been the knob on Bonner's map of 1722, represented by a 
rectangular projection on Burgiss's of 1728. The broad pro- 
jection of the shore line in front of West Hill was circular, 
and not what would ordinarily be called a point. 

Blaxton is an interesting personage in our history, and his 
memory will be forever identified with our beautiful pleasure- 
ground. If any proof be found to show such an association 
untenable, it must be relinquished without hesitation. But 
there is not the slightest likelihood that it will. 

Before closing I would suggest what seems his possible 
parentage. Many efforts have been made, from time to time, 
to ascertain from what branch of his name he descended, but 
to little purpose. His descendant, Mr. Blackstone, formerly 
Mayor of Norwich, Conn., made the acquaintance of Sir 
William, Member of Parliament from Wallingford, grandson 
of Sir William, the learned commentator on the laws of 
England, who derived from a branch settled at Salisbury in 
Wiltshire, but no connection could be traced. The corres- 
pondence that passed between them on the subject Mr. Black- 
stone was good enough to send me. Mr. William Blackstone 
inclined to the belief that our William was a near kinsman of 
John Blakiston, the friend of Cromwell, and one of the regi- 
cides who died just before the Restoration. Some of the 
regicide's descendants settled in Maryland, and a branch is 
believed to be there now. 

To this same view, also, inclined Mr. John Houston Black- 
stone, of Orangefield, Antrim, in Ireland, who is the grandson 
of Sir Matthew, the Mayor of London, created a Baronet in 
1763. He very courteously responded to my inquiries, but 
could not enlighten me as to what I wished to ascertain. 



17 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 17 

Information has been sought at Emmanuel College by Mr. 
Tattle, but nothing positive has been learned. The County 
Histories, Extinct Baronetcies, and other genealogical works, 
reveal, among the various pedigrees, but one individual who, 
in age and circumstances, corresponds with what is known of 
our sole inhabitant. 

The reasons which lead to my present conjecture that this 
was our William, have force. If so it should prove, it lends 
an additional interest — romantic or historical — to what is 
already known. It seems reasonable to assume that all of the 
name descend from the well-known stem in the palatinate of 
Durham, the earliest of whom mentioned — Hugh — was pro- 
prietor of Blakiston, about six miles from the episcopal city, 
as early as 1341, and who married Cecilia Fitzralph. From 
Roger, his son, descended Sir William, 1 388-141 8, Lord of 
Blaxton and Coxhow, whose posterity have been prospered in 
fortune, and flourished in great honor, not only in Durham, 
but in many other English counties, and in this country. 

"Few families of private gentry," says Surtees (p. 16, Vol. 
Ill), in his History of Durham, *' have spread more widely, or 
flourished fairer, than Blackstone ; but all its branches — Gib- 
side, Norton Hall, Old Morton, Seaton Hall, and Thornton 
Hall — have perished, like the original stock. One family 
alone remains which can trace its blood, without hereditary 
possessions ; and a dubious and distant kindred to the old 
tree of Blakiston, is asserted by some families who bear the 
name in the South." 

Surtees (HI, 160) says the house of Blakiston reached the 
zenith of its wealth and honors under John (1535-1586), who 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Bowes, and had 
ten sons and five daughters by her, and by his second wife, 
Barbara Lawson. He seems to have been the ancient esquire 
of the old ballad. His uncle was the ancestor of the Blakston 
of Gibside (Vol. II, p. 255). He made liberal provision for 
his numerous family. His eldest son, Sir William, born 1553, 
married in 1581, Alice Claxton, born 1558, and left six sons, 
all living in 1624, and three daughters. William was the 



1 8 WILLIAM BLAXTON. i8 

name of the fifth son, and, if born in 1595, his mother would 
have been thirty-seven years of age at the time of his birth. 

Sir William seems to have been a bold, high-spirited, and 
somewhat lawless man, for he rescued his cattle from the 
sheriff's oflficers, when levied upon by authority of the high 
commission. His eldest son, Thomas, was created a baronet 
in 161 5, one qualification for the honor being an estate of a 
thousand pounds a year, and another, payment of a thousand 
guineas into the royal treasury. He sold part of his patri- 
mony that very year, and, in 1634, conveyed away the last 
sweepings of the great Blakiston estate. His son. Sir 
William, the second and last baronet of this creation, is said 
to have spent himself for the king, and was at one time a 
prisoner ; but Sir Bernard Burke, a better authority than 
Surtees on the subject, says, the baronetcy became extinct on 
the death of Sir Thomas. 

Sir William, who died in 141 8, was succeeded as lord of 
Blakiston by William Nicholas, 141 8-1460, who married 
Fulthorpe; William, 1438-1468, who married Sybel ; Thomas, 
1438-1483, who married Killinghall ; William, 1465, who 
married Anne Conyers ; Thomas, (d. .? 1557), who married 
Elizabeth Place; John, 1 535-1 586, who married Elizabeth 
Bowes, who had fifteen children; Sir William, born 1533, 
died after 1624, m. Alice Claxton in 1581. 

This Sir William of Blaxton and Wynyard, like the 
Grahams and Musgraves, and many more of the moss- 
troopers of the border, set, occasionally, even the sheriffs at 
defiance, when they disturbed his cattle, and, no doubt, 
maintained the reputation of his house for courage and hospi- 
tality. The house at Wynyard, which came with Alice 
Claxton, he preferred as a dwelling to that of Blakiston. It 
was one of the most convenient and handsome mansions in 
the district, with a fine piece of water stretching along the 
valley, edged with woods and lawns, with pleasing sheltered 
wood-walks. The approach was over a handsome bridge, 
crossing the head of the lake. 



19 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 19 

Sir William, of Gibside, was also a devoted royalist, as well 
as another Sir William, his nephew, and Surtees may have 
confused these many Sir Williams. Knights and beneficed 
clergymen abounded in the family, and, if as suggested, our 
William was the son of Alice Claxton, his declining, in the 
impoverished condition of the family, after having obtained a 
collegiate education, to conform to the ecclesiastical requisi- 
tions, and be beneficed himself, may explain the tradition in 
the Connecticut line, that their first American ancestor left 
home from some misunderstanding with his parents. 

Our Blaxton married, July 4th, 1659, at Boston, Sarah, widow 
of John Stevenson, Governor Endicott officiating. We know, 
from the Suffolk Deeds, that John held a power to collect a 
claim against persons here, from a lady of Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Their only son John settled near New Haven, and his son 
John, of Branfort, was buried there in 1785, at the age of 
eighty-five. His son James was a person of official conse- 
quence, but did not know, in 1849, that he was descended 
from the first inhabitant of Boston. This branch have since 
emerged from comparative poverty, till Lorenzo, the gentle- 
man alluded to as once Mayor of Norwich, is now one of 
the most prosperous and influential of that city. 

If William belonged to the family of Blakiston and Wyn- 
yard — if he were the son of Sir William — or belonged to 
any other branch of the race in the County of Durham — 
(and I can find no William among their pedigrees who ap- 
proaches in age to his own, though William, son of William, of 
Gibside, was born in 1604) — it will be more easy to explain 
how he should have been so well skilled in woodcraft, venery, 
and horticulture, and in similar accomplishments, for which 
there could be no better training than to have been brought 
up on a large manorial estate in England. The chase and 
other field sports, in which, when not in war, consisted their 
daily occupations, prepared his constitution to cope with the 
exposures and privations of forest-life, and gave him the 
knowledge and experience required to obtain his food, and to 
take pleasure in its pursuit. Among the numerous names of 



20 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 20 

note in Durham at the time, we find Washington, Jefferson, 
and Madison, and many others famous in our American an- 
nals ; and there were, as we have seen, various branches of his 
own name and kindred who occupied hospitable mansions 
surrounded by parks. In many and all — for such were the 
social usages of the period — he was a welcome guest ; and, 
before ceasing to weary your attention, I propose to describe 
a few of them, if I may. 

Little remains of the old manor-house of Blakiston ; the 
hall was taken down during the last century. Its site was 
near the road, with deep meadows on the west, and broken 
ground sloping to the east. After his marriage with Alice 
Claxton, Sir William (15 50-1625) seems to have abandoned 
it for Wynyard, his wife's inheritance, and there, probably, 
his younger children were born. The property consisted of 
about two thousand acres, and though the Blakistons, from 
living there, were designated of Blakiston and Wynyard, the 
two sisters of Alice had an interest in this as well as in other 
parts of her inheritance. 

The most celebrated of the family mansions, however, was, 
no doubt, Gibside, of which I am tempted, if you are not 
wearied, to read you a description. 

Gibside lies on the Derwent, six miles from Newcastle-on- 
Tyne, and a like distance from Ravensworth Castle. It 
remained in the name of Blakiston till the death of the last 
baronet of that creation, Sir Francis, in 171 3, and then passed 
with his daughter Elizabeth to Sir William Bowes. " It is 
difficult to convey any adequate idea," says another county 
historian, "of the beautiful and magnificent scenery of the 
place. The visitor enters these enchanting grounds by a 
serpentine road, which, for upwards of a mile, winds through 
the bosom of a thick forest, sometimes on the brink of a deep 
ravine, and, at intervals, descending on the easy inclination of 
the hill, but still embowered with venerable oaks. On issuing 
from this forest-road, a stately banqueting house appears, 
seated on a noble elevation. After passing a beautiful piece 
of water, a delightful landscape bursts upon the view. To the 



21 WILLIAM BLAXrON. 21 

right rises a sylvan scene of great extent, hanging woods on 
inclining grounds, from a lofty summit of the hill, to the very 
skirts of the vale. 

" Rising over the woods, as a terminating object to the 
grand vista, appears a Doric stone pillar, 140 feet in height, 
surmounted by a colossal figure, the height of twelve feet, of 
British Liberty. Turning to the left, and looking westward, 
you behold a broad walk, or terrace, which, at a distance of a 
mile, leads to a chapel with a rich portico and dome, highly 
embellished, intended for a mausoleum. 

" On the north is a terrace, which only intervenes between 
the back part of the house and the steep descent into the 
Lady Haugh, a deep, rich area of pasturage, surrounded by a 
rapid sweep of the river. Across the Derwent cultivated 
lands, sloping gently to the water, and variegated with a lofty 
cliff with irregular swells, enclosures, and scattered woodlands, 
form a fine contrast to the deep forest masses that almost 
darken the southern bank. The sylvan beauties of this mag- 
nificent landscape are yet sufficiently grand and distinct to 
harmonize with the noble scenery that surrounds them. The 
gardens are spacious and well situated. The park is four 
miles in circumference. The whole scene is rendered more 
striking from the bleak country that surrounds this chosen 
spot. 

"The mansion-house displays the style of architecture that 
prevailed about the commencement of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Over the entrance-porch are the royal arms of James 
the First, and, beneath, those of Blakiston, quartering Man- 
ley and Lambton, his mother's and wife's. In the interior 
the old drawing-room remains entire. Forms of Samson and 
Hercules support a large mantel-piece, above which are the 
arms of the founder. The south front was partially rebuilt 
by the Earl of Strathmore, his descendant, with a strict 
regard to its original form, being embattled, and with deep 
bay windows divided by stone mullions and transoms." 

This residence — the home of a family growing into life, 
consisting of seven young men and boys and four blooming 



22 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 22 

maidens — must have been singularly attractive to a young 
collegian, and our Blackstone, if from Durham, must, at least, 
have seen it, if a near kinsman, as supposed. 

We have been tempted to select these descriptions at this 
time as bearing upon his probable parentage. Certainly no 
lovelier spot could be found along our own shore than the 
beautiful site of Boston, with its woods and hills and water, 
its fields, where the kings of the red men had planted their 
harvests. The place he selected in Attleboro' was equally 
beautiful, and such as a lover of nature would select. Study 
Hill, seventy feet above the river, near the site of his dwell- 
ing, commands a fine view of the valley of the Blackstone to 
the distance of more than a mile. On the east is another 
delightful and fertile valley which opens to the south on the 
borders of the meadow. Here was his orchard, and, near by, 
his grave. His selection of two such lovely homesteads — 
Shawmut and Attleboro' — indicates a practiced eye and culti- 
vated taste for beautiful scenery, and these he certainly may 
well have brought from this home of his fathers in Durham. 

In the works cited, the surname of our sole inhabitant is 
variously spelled. Blakiston, Blakeston, Blackstone are the 
usual modes. Blaxton was the spelling he himself adopted. 
The name of Claxton, identical with this but in the initial 
letter, strengthens the probability that William, as suggested, 
was the son of Sir William and Alice Claxton, as the mode 
before had been generally Blakiston. 



23 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 23 



NOTES. 



BLAXTON IN " MERRYMOUNT." 

As the forms of " Blackstone, Boston's First Inhabitant," a poetical 
tribute to his memory, printed in 1877, were going to press, "Merry- 
mount," read many years ago, came to light from an out-of-the-way corner 
of the writer's shelves. His attempt to render more familiar to present 
generations what has been transmitted of the hermit of Shawmut, would 
have been discouraged, had Motley's vivid and complete account of him 
been remembered. Some supposed incidents will be found both in the 
novel and poem ; but in the latter they were not borrowed from the 
former, but suggested by the subject common to both. The reader of 
the novel will take especial delight in this early scintillation of a genius 
which has since commanded the admiration of the world. The situation 
of Blaxton's abode in the book accords with that determined beyond all 
farther controversy by the deposition of Mrs. Pollard. For the moose- 
colored bull, on which the novel mounts the sole inhabitant, is claimed 
historical proof, and his solitude is cheered by a fawn, possibly no 
creature of the imagination, but an actuality, as the minotaur, supported 
by evidence. 

TRADITIONS. 

According to tradition, roses of English varieties adorned the garden of 
Blaxton. In " Merrymount," Motley describes him as riding on a bull. 
This is possible, since cattle were sent out to the colony at Strawberry 
Bank, on the coast of Maine, to Cape Ann and Plymouth, between 1620 
and 1630; and Maverick, no doubt, had many on his island. That Blax- 
ton broke in a bull to bit and bridle, and scampered upon its back over his 
domain, then consisting of seven hundred and fifty acres, is not impossible, 
or, perhaps, improbable ; but, as his riding later about his new home at 
Rehoboth, and in visiting Providence and Boston, on such an animal of the 
color mentioned, is well authenticated, the earlier bull may be a myth. 
The text, endeavoring to be historically accurate, reluctantly refrains from 
an incident, which, if it rested upon more reliable tradition, would add 
another interesting association with the earUest settlement of our city. 



24 WILLIAM B LAX TON. 24 



PROMINENT RESIDENTS ON HIS ESTATE. 

"Gleaner," speaking of Blaxton's estate, says "it must have been a 
sheltered and sunny enclosure of almost unrivalled beauty." In Blaxton's 
" Vision " in the poetical tribute mentioned above, brief reference is made 
to a few of the distinguished Bostonians who, in after years, resided upon 
portions of this estate. Copley owned a large part, including probably 
most of the " orchard." 

The house at the corner of Walnut and Beacon streets was built by John 
Phillips, first mayor of Boston, and father of the distinguished orator. 
The father of John Lothrop Motley, when the historian was a boy, lived on 
Walnut street, opposite the head of Chestnut ; Dr. Channing on Mount 
Vernon, Otis and Prescott on Beacon. 

Blaxton in his " Vision " may be supposed to have recognized many other 
celebrities, local or world-renowned, connected with the future of his farm, 
whose names are household words. But too many are living to warrant an 
allusion to them. Francis Parkman and Charles Francis Adams are too 
widely known for reserve ; McLean, whose name attaches to one of our 
charities he contributed largely to found, and David Sears, whose generous 
benefactions relieve hundreds of the worthy poor, with scores of more, 
familiar from their munificence, public service, and local influence, have 
dwelt or dwell now within its limits. 



BLAXTON'S ESTATE IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Blaxton's orchard in Boston, which, in a publication of 1765, is men- 
tioned as still bearing fruit, was well grown when he left Boston for 
Rehoboth, where, about his abode at Study Hill, he owned two hundred 
acres, and more in the neighborhood of Providence. His son John sold 
to Mr. Whipple, whose descendants still own, or did till recently. 



HIS INDIAN NEIGHBORS. 

Canonchet, soon after the battle of the plains, near Blaxton's abode, in 
March, 1676, left his army of fifteen hundred men, with a slender following, 
to procure seed-corn at Seekonk. The 7th of April he was surprised at 
Study Hill and captured, and was carried to Stonington. He declined all 
overtures for surrendering his own and his people's territory in exchange 
for his life, only praying his captors that his death-blow might be speedily 
given by Uncas, a sagamore of the Pequods. It was not so ordered; but, 



25 WILLIAM BLAXTON. 25 

in the presence of Major Denison, the Pequods shot him ; Mohegans cut 
off his head, quartered and dismembered his body ; Ninnicroft's men burnt 
the remains, except the head, which they presented to the Council at 
Hartford. His principal residence, as that of his father, Miantonimo, is 
believed to have been Taminy Hill, in Newport, his dominions extending 
over the islands and westerly shore of Narragansett Bay. 



BLAXTON'S TOMB. 



In the little village of Lonsdale, R. I., for two hundred years has been 
seen a lonely grave, marked with two white stones ; the elements, long 
years since have obliterated the inscriptions upon them, but well-founded 
tradition has designated this grave as that of Rev. William Blaxton, the 
first settler of Shawmut. Recently, in the presence of Lorenzo Blackstone, 
of Norwich, a descendant, and President Gammell, of the R. I. Historical 
Society, the grave was opened. A quantity of bones were found and 
placed in a suitable receptacle, and when the building, — a large cotton- 
mill, — is finished, which modern progress renders it necessary to place 
here, a handsome monument will also be erected over the remains of 
William Blaxton. 




ABEL BOWEN 



it 



WILLIAM HENRY WHITMORE. 



COPYRIGHT. 

1887. 
BOSTONIAN SOCIETY. 




ABEL BOWEN. 



BY a fortunate accident the Bostonian Society has ac- 
quired a number of the copper-plates and wood-cuts 
engraved by Abel Bovven and used by him in his 
" Picture of Boston " and other publications. As these 
engravings are all of historical interest, and the books are 
all out of print, the Society has voted to republish the 
plates with explanatory notes. 

In pursuing this task the writer was insensibly led to in- 
vestigate the circumstances under which these engravings 
first appeared, and consequently, to learn somewhat of the 
life and work of a man who has peculiar claims to recog- 
nition by a society founded for the preservation of Bostonian 
mementos. 

Abel Bowen, for nearly forty years a citizen of Boston, was 
one in the chain of local antiquaries, beginning nearly a cen- 
tury and a half ago with Thomas Prince, and continued 
through Pemberton, Shaw, Snow, Quincy, Drake, and Shurt- 
leff, to the present time. In this band of earnest recorders 



30 ABEL BO WEN. 6 

of our history, Abel Bowen belongs, not only as the artist 
who preserved for us these pictures of the past, but as the 
promoter and pubhsher of Snow's " History of Boston," and 
of various other similar books and magazines. As so little 
has yet been written about him, such details as have been col- 
lected may well be noted down here. 



The following memorandum preserved in the family, (for a 
copy of which I am indebted to Mr. W. C. Burrage, Clerk of 
the Bostonian Society), gives the Bowen pedigree. I add a 
figure for each generation. 

" Thomas 1 Bowen was one of the three brothers who came 

to this country to settle. He was the father of John^ Bowen, 

the father of John^, who was the father of John*, who was 

the father of Abel^ Bowen, my father. 

Abel^ Bowen. 

Boston, June, 1824. 

I also find that Abel^ Bowen, Sr., was born Dec. 14, 1768 ; 
married Delia Mason, March 31, 1789, and had Abel, born at 
Sand Lake Village in Greenbush, N. Y., Dec. 23, 1790 ; Delia, 
born July 12. 1792, died July, 1793) Henry, born May 28, 
1794; Romeo, born Sept. 16, 1796; Juliet, born May 31, 
1798; Sidney, born July 29, 1799) Sophronia, born July 25, 
1801; Mason, born June 6, 1802; Lorenzo, born Feb. 28, 
1804; Eliza, born June 24, 1805; Mary, born Jan. i, 1807, 
and Olonda, born June 6, 1809. He died Dec. 8, 181 1, at 
Ote^^o, N. Y., leaving a widow who long survived him, dying 
in Milford, N. Y., Oct. 22, 1838, aged sixty-eight years. 

Abel Bowen, Jr., had ten children, of whom three sons 
were, Lorenzo, Daniel, and Edwin; and three daughters, Mrs. 
Sanderson, Mrs. Phipps, and Mrs. Butts. 



7 ABEL BOIVEX. 31 

From a very interesting scrap of autobiography still pos- 
sessed by the family, (for which I am again indebted to Mr. 
Burrage), it seems that Bowen began his career as an engraver 
in 1805. The statement is as follows : 

" It is well known that Dr. Alexander Anderson of New 
York was the first to introduce the art into that City, and may 
be properly styled the father of Wood Engraving in the Uni- 
ted States. 

"The Introduction of Wood Cuts met with much opposition 
by Newspaper Printers and others, on account of the liability 
to warp and crack, they having been in the practice of using 
the Type Metal Cuts which had been the kind of engraving 
previously used. 

" In Boston, Type Metal Cuts were generally used, and no 
one attempted to make a business of Engraving on Wood till 
it was introduced by myself, although it is evident that others 
had made some occasional attempts to produce Wood Cuts. 
I have evidence that Dr. Franklin* engraved some devices on 
wood, and that some were used in the printing of the Conti- 
nental Money ; and after him a Mr. Aiken, Mr. Skillen, Mr. 
Callendar and several others executed Wood Cuts, not as a 
business, but as occasional experiments as suited their con- 
venience and the accommodation of others. 

"The first wood-cut I executed in Boston was a profile cut 
for W. M. S. Doyle, for his advertisement for cutting profiles, 



♦ It will be remembered that Franklin states in his autobiography, that when 
he started in business as a printer in Philadelphia, he " engraved several things 
on occasion," and especially "several ornaments and cuts for some New Jersey 
currency." These were doubtless in type metal. A late example is on the title- 
page of the Rev. Dr. Eckley's discourse before the Boston Female Asylum in 1802. 
It was printed at Boston at the Ornamental Printing Ofifice, under the Columbian 
Museum, and bears the monogram D. B. This doubtless refers to the Daniel 
Bowen of the text. At the end is a tail-piece of much inferior execution. I am 
informed that these were not engravings made on the type-metal, but that the 
matrix was cut in wood, and then a cast was made in metal. It seems as if there 
must have been two distinct systems, because while the earlier ornaments are 
very rude, some of the later ones are well and elaborately cut, suggesting the 
idea that they were regularly made types. 



32 



ABEL BO WEN. 



which may be seen in the Nc%v England Palladium of Dec. 
17, 1805.* 

" I engraved many cuts while an apprentice at the printing 
business, some of which were for my Uncle Daniel Bowen 
proprietor of the Columbian Museum in Boston,| and were 
used for his Museum bills as early as 181 1. 

" I made copies:]: of some cuts by Thomas Bewick, the re- 
storer of the Art of Wood Engraving, which my uncle took 
pains to exhibit to the printers and publishers in Boston, 




The same engraving retouched. 




* The following fac-simile is given. 

Wm. M. S. Doyle, 

Miniafurc d.ta Prnjl/e Palnirr^ 
Tb»mon-t Street, $urten, next House north otihe 
f/«/it-C^a/?c/,thclat<rresi<JeMciof R G AwOdV,!^. 

CONTINUES to ex- 
ecute Likenessei.. in Afilf— 
iat^ure and i'rof.li, of virion* 
liics, (the litter ill jFude Of 
nalura) colours) in a iiylc pe- 
culi»rlv sinking and elfgtot, 
whereby ihf mosi forcible ani- 
mation ii retainpd. 

SoxTic ire finithed ou com- 
j-oiitioci. id ilie tniiniicr of the 
Ce'ebraled Mie«6. 0» Landau? 

».» Tnus pf PjaJHet—fruM 
25 cents to 1 , 2, A 5 iMars. 

MiwatuTti — 1?, IS, 18 ourf 
20 doilar*. 



Dec. 17- 

t Daniel Bowen established a Museum here in 1791 at the American Coffee 
House, opposite the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, State street. He soon removed 
to the hall over the School House in Hollis street, and in 1795 was established 
on the corner of Tremont and Bromfield streets. The building was burned 
January 15, 1803; renewed on the corner of Milk and Oliver streets, and removed 
to the lot north of the King's Chapel yard in 1806, where William M. S. Doyle 
was his partner. There the collection was again destroyed January 16, 1807, but 
they rebuilt and opened June 2, 1807. Mr. Bowen soon after left Boston, and 
Mr. Doyle continued until January i, 1825, when the collection was sold to Mr. 
E. A. Greenwood. In 1841 Moses Kimball brought back to the old site on the 
corner of Bromfield street, the remains of this Museum and several others. 

X Mr. Burrage has called my attention to Low's Almanac, printed at Boston, 
by Munroe & Francis. In the issue for 181 1, is a cut signed with Bowen's mon- 
ogram; in that for 1817, is one signed Bowen, and another marked N. D., doubt- 
less Dearborn's. In 1819 there are several cuts as headings in the months 
marked Bowen, or B, and they continue through 1822. They seem to be copies 
or imitations of Bewick. 







i^^^^^^^Hp 
















^9Hd 





JOSEPH KVLE, PINX. 



^ ABEL BO WEN. 33 

many of whom were pleased to express compliments in favor 
of the specimens, and a desire to have me make it a business, 
for there was no one established in the Art in the City. 

"This* led me to engrave and issue a Cut, (the Tiger Hunt) 
for a Card, in the early part of i8i2t, soliciting patronage at 
the Museum while I executed my Engravings at Brighton, 
where my uncle resided. After engraving a number of Cuts 
and finding a ready sale for them, I determined on making 
Engraving a business, took a room in Tudor's Building in 
Court street, and commenced in August, 18 12, by doing a cut 
of a Model of a Boat for Mr. Frederick Tudor, and advertised 
to do Engraving on Wood in Boston. 

" I immediately received orders from the principal pub- 
lishers in the City, such as Messrs. T. B. Wait, Caleb 
Bingham, Cummings & Hilliard, Munroe & Francis, Lin- 
coln & Edmands, West & Richardson, Adams & Rhodes, 
Benjamin Russell, and others, most of whom had urged my 
making Wood Engraving a business, as no one, as they said, 
had ever attempted it in Boston. 



• He forgets to mention an earlier specimen, being a ticket for a Ball at Hud- 
son, N. J., September 14, 181 1, where he was one of the managers. It bears his 
initials, A. B., as engraver. 

t See the annexed fac-simile. 







34 ABEL BOWEN. la 

"The patronage thus bestowed on me, led Mr. Gershom 
Cobb, a writing master, to issue a card, as he had made cuts 
occasionally, by way of experimenting. 

"This was soon followed by N. Dearborn,* originally a 
book-binder and book-seller, then a grocer, to issue a Hiero- 
glyphical Card, as having opened in Water Street. Mr. Cobb 
soon relinquished the business altogether, leaving the whole 
to Mr. Dearborn and myself. After this a degree of rivalry 
ensued between us, and the progress each made may be seen 
by the work produced. 

"Mr. Shaw when about to publish his Description of Bos- 
ton, gave each two cuts to do, the Church of Christ in Salem 
St., and the Triangular Ware House, to Mr. Dearborn ; and 
the Old and New State House to me ; f and any one who 
wishes can see the state of the Art in Boston at that period 
by examining the work. 

" And to show the progress I made in Engraving on Wood, 
I would refer to a Cut placed at the head of an Elegy on the 
Death of Lawrence, killed in the battle between the Chesa- 
peake and Shannon, the cuts in the Naval Monument, Snow's 
History of Boston, the Picture of Boston, and The Young- 
Ladies' Book, all of which were published by myself. J 

* Nathaniel Dearborn is best known by his volume entitled " Boston Notions," 
published in 1848. In the preface he reprints an advertisement of a similar 
work which he projected thirty years before. This notice, from the New England 
Palladium of June 24, 1814, has a wood-cut of a painter's pallet, and below it is 
the inscription : " Nathaniel Dearborn, Engraver on Wood, School Street, Bos- 
ton." The circular refers to "the new style of engraving in this part of the 
country," which Mr. Dearborn explains in a foot-note as "that of Engraving on 
Wood, introduced into Boston in the latter part of the year 181 1, by the Author 
of this work." It will be seen that this claim was not made till 1848, and I pre- 
sume it led Mr. Bowen to write out this statement. Bowen's date of 1805 for his 
first work ante-dates Dearborn by six years. However the first efforts of both 
artists were quite trifling and obscure. Bowen seems however, best entitled to 
the credit of priority. 

t Mr. Bowen neglects to add that he also engraved for this book a View of 
Faneuil Hall, and that all these cuts were the size of the page. In addition. 
Dearborn engraved a view of the Julien House. Bowen's cut of the Old State 
House was afterwards used as the frontispiece to Hale's "Survey of Boston," 
in 1821. 

1 These are noticed later. 



II ABEL BO WEN. 35 

" Soon after the latter book appeared, Mr. Dunlap's work 
on the 'Arts in the United States' was issued, in which he 
gave me the credit of introducing the Art of Wood Engrav- 
ing into Boston.* The statement made by Mr. D. was from a 
knowledge of the circumstances I have here related, obtained 
from what was generally understood in Boston, not from any 
information he got from me, for he made no application to me 
on the subject. The public must judge whether Mr. Dunlap's 
statement is correct, and who was the first to introduce the 
Art of Engraving into Boston, and bring it forward to take 
rank with other cities in the United States. 

" Much credit awarded to me in the Art, is no doubt due to 
the pupils who have been in my employ, some of whom I am 
proud to say have become distinguished Artists, and do great 
credit to the country ; Croome, Hartwell, Devereux, Brown, 
Billings, Kelly, Andrews, and several others. f 

"Abel Bowen." 

The tribute to Lawrence, mentioned by Bowen, is a broad- 
side $ about 13 inches by 8 inches, the lower half being an 



* See Dunlap, Vol. II, p. 9: "Of the introduction of wood engraving into 
Boston, the credit is due to Mr. Abel Bowen, who began there in 1812, and has 
continued the pursuit successfully; he has had several pupils of ability, (Mr. 
Hartwell and others) who now that the art is becoming more generally under- 
stood, receive every encouragement in their professional practice." 

See also, Vol. II, p. 254. 

t This list can be extended by the following undated memorandum found 
among Bowen's papers. 

" Persons who have received instruction in the art of engraving. Charles 
Putnam, George Fowle, Sidney Bowen, Childs, Swett, Kelly, [S. S.) Kilburn, 
Joseph Andrews, Alonzo Hartwell, Crosman, Ruggles, Brown, Hammatt Billings, 
D. Bowen, Wait, Lloyd, William Munroe, Mudge, George Willis, Devereux, 
Emmons, Brown, William Croome, Hall (at Cooperstown), and Perkins." 

t The copy in the possession of the Bostonian Society has the following 
([uaint note printed on a slip of paper. 

" I wish you to take the Proposal and go round evenings, or when Mr. Clark 
can spare you, and get what subscribers you can, and then let me know what 
No. of copies I must send. The Satin comes very high, and I do not wish to 
send any more than I am sure to get sale for. I will make a present of one to 
Mr. Clark, and, if it should be agreeable, I should like to have him put his name 



36 



ABEL BO WEN. 



elegy (two columns of verse), and the upper half representing 
a monument, being a square base with an oval vase thereon, 
surmounted by a bust of Lawrence. A weeping female proba- 
bly personifies Columbia, and the usual accessories, flags, etc., 
complete the picture. The block is about eight inches by six, 
and is entirely creditable to the artist. 

It is marked " Published according to the Act of Congress. 
A. Bowen, Printer." 

As to the " Naval Monument," of which Bowen speaks, it 
was published by him in 1816, and sold by Cummings and 
Hilliard. 

The illustrations are : 





Subject. 




Designer. 


Engraver. 


I* 


Frontispiece. 


J- 


R. Penniman. 


W. B. Annin. 


1* 


Constitution escaping. 


M 


. Come. 


W. Hoogland. 


3 


Constitution and Guerriere. 




do. 


A. Bowen. 


4 


do. do. 




do. 


do. 


5 


Wasp and Frolic. 




do. 


do. 


6 


United States and Macedonian. 


A. 


Bowen. 


do. 


7 


Java and Constitution. 


M, 


. Corne. 


do. 


9 


Hornet and Bonne Citoyenne. 
Hornet and Peacock. 






do. 

do. 




9 


M 


. Corne. 


10* 


Chesapeake and Shannon. 




do. 


Wightman. 


II 


Enterprise and Boxer. 




do. 


A. Bowen. 


12* 


1st View of Perry's Victory. 




do. 


W. B. Annin. 


13* 


2d do. do. 




do. 


do. 


14 


Capture of the Essex. 




do. 


A. Bowen. 


»S 


Peacock and Epervier. 


T. 


Birch. 


do. 


16 


Wasp and Reindeer. 


E. 


Corne. 


do. 


17 


Wasp and Avon. 




do. 


do. 


18* 


McDonough's Victory. 




do. 


W. Hoogland. 


19 


President and Endymion. 




do. 


A. Bowen. 


20 


Constitution, Cyane and Levant. 


M. 


Corne. 


A. Anderson. 


21 


Hornet and Penguin. 




do. 


A. Bowen. 


22 


Hornet's escape. 




do. 


do. 


23* 


Bainbridge's squadron. 


J- 


B. Fanning. 


G. G. Smith. 



on, for a beginning, and present it to the patrons of the Reading-Room. The 
Proposals have done very well in this town. It is probable I shall do tolerably 
well in N. York. You will have 12 cts. for each sub." 



13 ABEL BO WEN. 37 

It will be noticed that seven are copper-plate engravings, 
marked with a star in this list, and fifteen are wood-cuts, 
made by Bowen. They are all very good works of art, and, 
had the art of printing wood-cuts at that time been well 
understood, these cuts would bear comparison with work 
done now. 

In 1836 a new edition of the book was announced, con- 
tinued down to that date ; but the volume is only a reprint of 
the old work. It is not a re-issue, but a reprint. The cuts 
and plates seem to be the ones used before, but they are very 
badly printed, and have apparently been injured in parts. 

Very curiously, among the wood-cuts bought of Bowen's 
heirs by the Bostonian Society, are several reproductions of 
these cuts on a reduced scale. I have not yet found them in 
use in any book, and very possibly they were intended for 
some enterprise which never succeeded. 

Among the miscellaneous cuts done by Bowen, probably 
before 1820, I would mention one of the Exchange Coffee 
House in Boston, which building was burnt down Nov. 3, 
1818. This is marked " S. Dearborn, del., A. Bowen, sc." 
A copper-plate engraving "Wightman, sc," was used on the 
paper of the hotel. I have also a wood-cut of the " Columbian 
Hotel" — locality unknown — from the Bowen family papers. 

Mr. F. Blake, of Boston, has a large cut made by Bowen, 
for Elijah Fairbanks of Worcester, to be used on a wrapper 
for writing paper. It has a view of an old mill, which was 
burned in 1827. 

He also made a cut of the Bible and Heart for Charles 
Ewer, of 5 1 Cornhill, a well-known publisher, a copy of which 
is in a publication dated 18 18. 

The Bostonian Society has a number of blocks by Bowen, 
some of which may belong to this period, but none seem 
deserving of reproduction. 

Bowen, also, during this period, practiced his art on copper 
plates. I have noted a portrait of Wesley, prefixed to 
"Extracts from his Journals," etc., Boston, 1819. This is 
engraved in line and stipple. 



38 ABEL BO WEN. 14. 

Bowen came to Boston in August, 18 12, and it appears 
that he imniediately made plans to begin the printing business 
with his uncle Daniel as a partner, and a cousin, Abel Bul- 
lock, as an apprentice.* It is not probable however that the 
arrangements proposed resulted in success, or were of long 
duration. 

In 1 8 16 the Directory names Abel Bowen as an engraver 
on wood. In 1821 Abel Bowen and Alexander McKenzie 
were associated as copper-plate printers ; but the partnership 
was brief, though the latter is named in the Directory until 
1833. In 1823, George P. Bowen, copper-plate engraver, is 
at the same address as Abel. 

* We insert the following interesting letter, written on his arrival at Boston^ 
from the oiiginal, belonging to Mrs. Benj. Phipps. 

Boston, Aug. 27, 181 2. 
To Miss Eliza Healy, Hudson, N. Y. 

I have had a pleasant journey of four days to this place, arriving on Friday, the 
2ist inst. On Saturday I went to the Museum, and inquired for Daniel Bowen,. 
my uncle ; was informed he lived in Brighton, to which place I went in the stage; 
was introduced to a cousin, Abel Bullock, who lived with him. .Sunda)', the 23d, 
went to church with them. On the 25th Mr. and Mrs. D. Bowen expressed their 
anxiety to have me start the job and ornamental printing business in Boston, 
under the firm name of D. and A. Bowen, and take my cousin and teach him the 
trade. On Wednesday, the 26th, Mr. and Mrs. Bowen, Mr. Bullock and myself 
took a hack and went to town to make further arrangements. We spent an 
afternoon with Capt. Moore, of the Navy. On the 27th arrangements were 
made. My uncle is to have a room leading from the hall of the Museum and 
move his office in there. Then I am to take the office with a bedroom, with my 
cousin to help, and do the best I can with it. He is to furnish iiaper and other 
things to commence with. My uncle and myself are to share equally in all we 
make by printing, and all I receive from painting and engraving is to be my own. 
This P. M. went to Commencement. I left Capt. Moore in Boston, who is to 
sail in a few hours with Mr. Bullock on board, who goes to Hillsdale to see his 
parents, and return the next trip. To-morrow go to prepare for removing the 
press. Shall have no rent to pay, and every convenience for keeping bachelor's 
hall, and I think I shall do well, if I keep my health. Let it be as it may; I 
think it will be better than to have gone a soldiering. I date my letter in Boston 
because there is no post-office in Brighton. * * * * A. B. 

The lady to whom this was addressed subsequently became his wife. From 
the letter it would seem that his proposed office adjoined the Museum. His 
reminiscences quoted on p. 33 supra, written much later in life, differ slightly 
from the statements here ; but these, having been made at the time, are no 
doubt more correct. 



IS ABEL BOWEN. 39 

Not long after Shaw's book appeared, Abel Bowen con- 
ceived the idea ot a new history, in which the illustrations 
were to be a marked feature. He had been collecting mate- 
rials for some time, and. in the spring of 1822, he arranged 
with Mr. John Foster, Jr., to compile the text. Disputes 
occurred between the partners, and, in April, 1824, Bowen, 
who had bought the copyright of Shaw's book, and engaged 
the services of Dr. Caleb H. Snow, as editor, issued proposals 
for his new history. Mr. Foster attempted to prepare a rival 
issue, to be printed by Mr. Edward Cotton, but it seems to 
have been unsuccessful. 

Snow's history was issued in parts, and a copyright was 
obtained for the whole book, Nov. 28, 1825. Great as is the 
praise due to the compiler of this admirable history, at least 
equal honor is due to Bowen, as the originator and supporter 
of the scheme, and as the artist who selected and prepared 
the valuable illustrations. These comprised seventeen full- 
page views (nearly all copper-plates), three maps, and nine 
wood-cuts, and they give a very favorable impression of 
Bowen's skill both as an engraver and as an artist. 

In 1825 quite a stimulus was given to local art, by the 
introduction of lithography. In the Boston Magazine for 
December in that year, pp. 378-384, is an account of Sene- 
felder's discovery of the process. It adds that nothing had 
been done to introduce it in this country, unless a few at- 
tempts in New York may be verified, "until within a few 
months, when Mr. John Pendleton commenced an establish- 
ment for lithography in this city." He "is a young gentle- 
man of taste and talents, from the State of New York, who 
was on a visit to Paris, on business of an entirely different 
nature, and, becoming pleased with lithography, put himself 
immediately under the first artists of France, and acquired, 
as we believe, a thorough knowledge of the art and the prin- 
ciples on which it is founded. With this stock of informa- 
tion, and with a great love of the profession, and in addition 
a good supply of the proper stone and other materials for the 
pursuit of the art, he came to Boston and engaged with his 



40 ABEL BO WEN. x6 

brother, a copper-plate printer of established celebrity. With 
great liberality he has furnished stone, chalk, and pencils to 
several painters, who are making great progress in litho- 
graphic drawing. The sketch which is given in this number 
of our magazine is merely a specimen of the art amongst us. 
Messrs. Edwards, Johnson, Hoogland, Penniman, and Alex- 
ander, artists well known in this city, are engaged in doing 
something in lithography to exhibit to the public, which may 
soon be expected to appear, and others will, no doubt, follow 
their example. We shall, from time to time, not only keep 
our readers apprised of the progress which our enterprising 
and gifted artists are making, but also of what has been done 
and may be doing ; and often present our patrons with speci- 
mens of the art itself in our pages." 

In this magazine appeared lithographic portraits of Jacob 
Perkins and Eleanor Davis, both drawn by [Thomas] Edwards ; 
and of Maria Edgewood, drawn by [P.] Alexander ; all litho- 
graphed by Pendleton. 

In the Boston News-Letter of Nov. 5, 1825, mention is 
made of the new art, and notice given that an edition of Sir 
Astley Cooper's Lectures would soon appear with plates 
"which have been drawn on stone by A. Bowen and litho- 
graphed by Mr. Pendleton." 

Bowen was, in 1825, a partner of William S. Pendleton, 
and the firm was dissolved Jan. 31, 1826, evidently amicably. 
Pendleton continued lithographing, with his brother, and 
Bowen returned to engraving. 

This is not the place to trace the history of lithography, 
but it may be added that William and John Pendleton adver- 
tised in the Directory through 1830, being then in "Graphic 
Court, Washington street, opposite the end of Franklin 
street, and near the Marlboro' Hotel." From 183 1 to 1836 
{in the latter year at 208 Washington street, between Frank- 
lin and Summer streets) William S. Pendleton continues 
alone, and his name disappears in 1837. On the cover of the 
Directory for 1837, Thomas Moore, of 204 Washington street, 
advertises as the successor to Pendleton. 



17 



ABEL BO WEN. 



41 



In 1830, in the Directory, is an advertisement of the Sene- 
felder Lithographic Co., of 123 Washington street, signed by 
Hazen Morse, Thomas Edwards, William B. Annin, George 
G. Smith, and John Chorley. 

We may here note, on the evidence of the Directory, that 
John Cullum was, in 1826, a copper-plate printer, William 
Hoogland an engraver from 1 822-1 828, and William F. 
Stratton an engraver from 1 829-1 833. 

In the years 1825-6 Bowen published two volumes of 
"Bowen's Boston News-Letter and City Record," edited by 
Dr. Jerome V. C. Smith, afterwards mayor. It was an 
antiquarian journal of much merit, as well as a useful com- 
pendium of the doings of the City Government. 

In 1828 a second edition of Snow's History was issued; 
but it was merely a method of disposing of the remaining 
copies of the first issue, as the preface shows. Pp. 393 and 
394 were reset, pp. 395-424 added, and a new Index, pp. 425- 
427, prepared. 

In 1829 Bowen issued the first edition of his "Picture of 
Boston, or Citizen's and Stranger's Guide to the Metropolis 
of Massachusetts, and its Environs," a duodecimo volume 
of 252 pages. Although the title says it is "embellished 
with engravings," only a few little cuts are to be found in it. 

" Tlie flory of children are their fttner* •• 
TRIMOUNTAIN IN I'JSO. 




SacoQd Centenoial Celebration of the Settlemmit of Boitoo. 
Se^t 17. 1830. 

In 1830 at the time of the celebration of the Bi-Centennial 
Settlement of the town, Bowen prepared a badge, a copy of 
which is in the cabinet of our Society. The cut is given 
above. 



42 ABEL BO WEN. i8 

In 1830 Dr. Snow issued "A Geography of Boston," with 
"Historical Notes .... for the Younger Class of Readers," 
which he intended to be an abridgment of his larger history. 
To this Bowen contributed various cuts, some new and 
others perhaps reduced from his larger plates. The best one, 
perhaps, is a view of the Old State House, under its new 
name of the City Hall, it having been so dedicated on Sept. 
17, 1830. In the foreground, on State street, is a pump, 
concerning which the following note from Bowen's manu- 
scripts is in place : " The Old State House was painted white 
in August, 1825, by the city, and in the same month a well 
was dug at the east end, and good water found, and a plenty, 
after digging 18 or 20 feet." Before this time there had 
been a flight of steps at the east end which must have nearly 
covered this spot. The " old Town Pump " can therefore 
hardly be located here earlier than 1825. 

The annexed cut is also from the 
Geography, and represents the birth- 
place of Franklin, on Milk street. 
Another noticeable picture is that of 
the Tremont House, then just built, 
showing a cupola on it, which was 
soon removed. The Great Elm on the 
Common, near "Crescent Pond," is shown, and also the 
monument to the parents of Franklin. Another cut shows 
the first few feet of Bunker Hill Monument in process of 
erection; and on p. 159 is one representing the Ouincy 
Railway employed for the carrying of stone. 

In 1833 Bowen issued the second edition of his "Picture 
of Boston," wherein, besides wood-cuts, appeared several of 
the plates of churches, which are appended to this pamphlet. 
Four of these plates (sixteen subjects), and also the two 
beginning respectively with the City Hall and the Odeon, 
were in this edition. It is interesting to note that the third 
subject on the first plate, in 1833, was "Merchants' Hall," 
which was effaced and replaced in the later edition by the 
"Bethel." Merchants' Hall, Bowen states, is "at the corner 




^9 



ABEL BO WEN. 



43 



of Congress and Water streets ; it is a large, plain building 
of brick, four stories in height. The lower floor is occupied 
as a market, and the upper stories for printing-offices and 
various other purposes." On p. 209 is a cut of the Warren 
Theatre, corner of Portland and Traverse streets ; on p. 289, 
a view is given of the Savin Hill Hotel, both of which 
seem peculiar to thrs 



edition. 

For a long time, 
Bowen was engaged 
in preparing a new 
edition of Snow's 
History, of which 
the two cuts here 
given are perhaps 
the only remaining 
memento. They are 
numbered " No. 9, p. 
17," and "No. 10, p. 
18." The first, the 
interior of Faneuil Hall, is quite interesting, and far less 
common than the exterior views. Bowen used a very similar 
view of the second, Quincy Market, on a larger scale, perhaps 

more than once. 

It is very irrita- 
ting to think that 
the great number of 
drawings, and other 
materials, collected 
with so much care 
by Bowen, were ut- 
terly dispersed and 
lost after his death. 
From an undoubted 
authority it seems that enough manuscripts to fill several 
barrels were thus allowed to be ruined by neglect and event- 
ually to be burnt. To this loss the antiquary has also to add 





44 ABEL BO WEN. 20 

that caused by the great fire of 1872, when all the wood- 
cuts used in the old Almanacs and early periodicals also 
disappeared. The present generation must treasure its 
recollections for the benefit of posterity. 

In 1834 Bowen entered upon an enterprise which must 
have taken the greater part of his attention for several years. 

By chap. 124 of Acts of 1834 there were incorporated as 
the Boston Bewick Company, John H. Hall, Abel Bowen, 
and John C. Crosman, with their associates, " for the purpose 
of employing, improving, and extending the art of engraving, 
polytyping, embossing, and printing," with power to hold 
real and personal estate to the extent of $120,000. The act 
is dated March 27, 1834. In their advertisement, a month 
or two later, they state that the company is named in honor of 
the late Thomas Bewick, " the restorer of the art of engrav- 
ing on wood." Freeman Hunt was made their agent, and 
the following artists state that orders for them may be sent 
to him : Abel Bowen, Alonzo Hartwell, John H. Hall, William 
Croome, George W. Boynton, John C. Crosman, Daniel H. 
Craig, and N. B. Devereux, Jr. 

In the fire of Sept. 24, 1835, on Court street, the Boston 
Bewick Company was burned out ; but its advertisement 
remained in 1836. In 1835 the company began to publish 
TAe Anierica7i Magazine, a periodical, which for several 
reasons deserves to be carefully considered. It lived through 
three volumes, the first two, at least, being issued under the 
control of the Bewick Company. In Vol. I, page 508, it is 
stated that " the company of engravers on wood in Boston 
and by whom those for this magazine are prepared, under 
the superintendence of Mr. A. Bowen, have taken the name 
of Bewick, from respect to the person above named," /. e., 
Thomas Bewick. Again, in the valedictory address of the 
anonymous editor, in August, 1836, at the end of the second 
volume, he complains that "the embellishments have chiefly 
been selected by the executive officers of the Boston Bewick 
Company, or by the engravers themselves." The third 
volume begins with October, 1836, and ends with September, 



21 ABEL BO WEN. 45 

1837, the publisher being John L. Sibley. In the last monthly 
part (p. 459) is a full-page engraving by A. Bowen, of " Ma- 
zeppa " ; and on page 397 is a large cut of an " American 
Short-Horn Bull," likewise signed by him. These furnish 
the proof that Bowen's interest in the magazine continued to 
its close. His initials are on the portrait of La Fayette, on 
p. 21 of the first volume, thus identifying him with the entire 
enterprise. 

The magazine was intended to be instructive, and its range 
embraced everything but fiction. The wood-cuts were 
numerous, and especially illustrated articles on zoology and 
botany. But there are also many views of noted places and 
buildings in our own country, not a few being those in Bos- 
ton and its vicinity. A list of the latter is given to aid the 
students of our local history, and for the further reason that 
Bowen is certainly entitled to the credit of this department. 

In the first volume are the following wood-cuts, all relating 
to Boston when not otherwise specified : p. 9, Entrance to 
Mount Auburn ; p. 17, large view of Trinity Church ; p. 18, 
small view of Old Trinity ; p. 51, House of Industry, South 
Boston; p. 81, Hancock House; p. 83, Unitarian Church, 
Cambridgeport ; p. Z6, ship "Constitution," at the Navy-yard ; 
p. 157, Massachusetts General Hospital ; p. 183, Bunker 
Hill Monument; p. 201, Harvard College; p. 221, Boston 
Massacre ; p. 254, Durant's Balloon Ascension from Boston ; 
p. 279, ruins of the Convent at Charlestown ; p. 289, Adams 
Temple at Quincy (J. Kidder, del.) ; p. 373, portrait of Gov. 
Bowdoin ; p. 408, Mr. Bennet's house at Brighton ; p. 479, 
large view of New South Church ; p. 492, large view of 
Tremont-street Mall ; p. 512, Braman's Bath-house. 

In Volume II there are the following: p. 34, large view of 
the Seamen's Church ; p. 35, small view of the Old Seamen's 
Church; p. 42, State Prison, Charlestown ; p. 55, large view 
of Faneuil Hall ; p. 6'^, large view of the State House ; p. 
80-81, Old Feather Store, Triangular Warehouse, and the 
Julian House; p. loi, Fort Independence ; p. 155, Fresh Pond, 
Cambridge; p. 157, Tremont street, west from School 



46 ABEL BO WEN. 22 

street ; p, 234, view in Mount Auburn, Cambridge ; p. 237, 
the Hutchinson House; p. 316, large view of Destruction of 
Tea in 1772 (sketched by G. L. Brown) : p. 413, large view of 
Grace Church ; p. 497, Trinity Church, from the west corner ; 
p. 501, Suffolk Bank. 

Volume HI opens with a large view of Boston, from South 
Boston (Brown, del}) ; other cuts are : p. 65, Monument to 
John Harvard ; p. 89, large view of the New Court-House ; 
p. 129, large view of Mt. Washington House, South Boston; 
p. 140, AVorcester R. R. Depot ; p. 169, large view of the 
Maverick House ; p. 244, McLean Insane Asylum ; p. 325, 
U. S. Marine Hospital, Chelsea ; p. 404, Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment in its unfinished state ; p. 432, Washington Elm, Cam- 
bridge ; pp. 449 and 451, large views of the Adams houses 
in Quincy. 

We have been thus particular in noticing these engravings, 
because the magazine seems to have dropped out of sight of 
collectors. Undoubtedly its success among the young, and 
its wealth of illustrations, led to the destruction of copies at 
an early date. 

The Bewick Company issued in 1835 a map of Boston, 31 
by 22 inches, and the border enclosing it is made up of neat 
outline views of various public buildings in the city. 

Late in 1837, or early in 1838, Bowen issued the third edi- 
tion of his " Picture of Boston," rearranging and increasing 
its contents. In this edition he seems to have added the last 
two plates, which are herewith reissued, viz., those beginning 
respectively with the Brattle-street Church and the New 
North. A ninth plate is also found in this edition, the sub- 
jects being the Tremont House, Norfolk House, Nahant 
Hotel, and Bunker Hill Monument ; but this plate has not 
been recovered. 

In 1849 Bowen prepared his " New Guide to the City of 
Boston and vicinity," published by James Munroe & Co. It 
was a small affair, only filling thirty-six pages, and refers 
inquirers to his History and Picture. In the preface he men- 
tions that a new edition of the History is in preparation. It 



23 ABEL BO WEN. 47 

is understood that the late Samuel G. Drake was to be the 
editor of the re-issue ; but the long-continued illness of Mr. 
Bowen put an end to that project. Later on Mr. Drake began 
the issue of a new history, the first part appearing September 
I, 1852. Although that gentleman had acquired Dr. Snow's 
manuscript collections, since transmitted to the present writer, 
he constructed his history on an entirely different plan. 
Whatever may be the merits of Mr. Drake's unfinished work, 
neither that book nor the more miscellaneous collection 
known as the "Memorial History of Boston " can obscure the 
merits of Snow's volume. 

One of the survivors of the artists of the last generation 
has kindly favored us with his recollections of our subject. 
"Bowen," he says, "was the real founder of the art of wood- 
engraving here, not so much by his own productions as by 
the stimulus he gave to the subject. He was an enthusiast, 
always projecting v/orks to be illustrated in this manner, and, 
though rarely making a profit for himself, he was thus the 
cause of much being done. He was self-taught, copying the 
designs and methods of those English examples which in- 
spired him. Before his time engraving on copper and type- 
metal had been done here with fair success. But the aims, 
processes and results of wood-engraving were so well perceived 
and achieved in this city, that for years it possessed almost a 
monopoly of the business. And," our informant adds, "the 
work done a half century ago was really good in style and 
manner ; so that to-day the greatest advance noticeable is 
mainly due to improvements in printing, paper and ink. That 
Bowen was unable to command the means to succeed largely 
was the misfortune of the times ; that he should have strug- 
gled on, year after year, in the face of reverses, poverty, and 
long-continued illness, is the highest proof that he possessed 
that spark of vital energy which we call genius." 

Abel Bowen died March 11, 1850. 

In one of the newspapers of the date appeared the following 
brief notice : " Although a sketch of the life of Mr. Bowen 



48 ABEL BOWEN. 24- 

will undoubtedly soon be published, yet we cannot allow this 
opportunity to go by without bearing our tribute to the memo- 
ry of the Man, the Philanthropist, and the Christian. For 
two years he has borne, with hopeful yet resigned patience, 
the progress of the disorder, which was to him only as the 
gradual opening of that gate by which he should pass in, 
joyfully and triumphantly, to the full radiance of the Eternal 
Presence. No murmur ever escaped his lips, no discontent 
appeared on his countenance. ' It is pleasant to see your 
faces,' he said to the group around him, a few hours before 
his death ; ' but I shall soon see the face of my heavenly 
Father.' And joyfully indeed did his long-imprisoned spirit 
seem to burst from the helpless and shattered frame. He 
died without a struggle, and with a calm smile, which told of 
trust in God and peace with all mankind." 



Mr. Burrage has obtained from Mrs. Phipps, miniatures 
of Abel Bowen and Eliza (Healy) Bowen, his wife, finely 
painted on ivory, heliotype reproductions of which form the 
frontispiece of this paper ; the portrait of his uncle Daniel, 
who is mentioned on page 38, is reproduced from a painting 
by Kyle, and has until recently been in the possession of a 
descendant, Mrs. Isaac T. Jones, of Philadelphia. 

On the following pages will be found brief descriptions 
of the plates mentioned on page 42, and impressions from 
electrotypes of selections from Bowen's original wood-cuts 
in the possession of the Society. 





e-i'i s" Siii: 



■jXS:LUT2, 3Ij\3.2j:, 




JDrauTi, and Sriciirwed for^owenlr Tii^a-f of^cstc/it. 



25 ABEL BO WEN. 49 

1. The City Hall, better known as the old State- 
House, built in 1712 on the site of a still older house; 
injured by fire in 1747; disused by the State. Jan- 
uary II, 1798; occupied as a City Hall 1830- 1840; 
used for business purposes till 1881 ; renovated and 
restored in 1882. The halls, of the greatest histor- 
ical interest, are now in charge of the Bostonian 
Society. 

2. Faneuil Hall, given to the town Sept. 10, 
1742, by Peter Faneuil; greatly injured by fire, Jan- 
uary 13, 1761 ; rededicated March 14, 1763 ; rebuilt 
in 1805, doubling the width of the area, and adding 
a third story. 

3. The Bethel Church, North square, was founded 
by the Rev. E. T. Taylor, a Methodist minister, in 
1S29. The foundation of this building was laid Octo- 
ber 3, 1832. Father Taylor was especially devoted to 
the spiritual care of the seamen of this port, and was 
very successful. 

4. CusTOM-HousE. In 1 8 10 the Custom-House 
was removed from the corner of Flag alley and State 
street to a new building in Custom-House street. 
In 1847-9 the present building was completed and 
occupied, but the former edifice retains nearly the 
appearance here presented. 



50 ABEL BO WEN. 26 

5. The Odeon. This is the Federal-street Theatre. 
The first buildino- was opened Feb. 3, 1794, burnt 
and rebuilt in 1798, closed in 1833, and its name 
changed to the Odeon. In 1846 it again became a 
theatre, and in 1852 it was torn down to make 
room for stores. A narrow alley behind the theatre 
and the other buildings on Federal street, from 
Franklin to Milk street, was widened, and became 
Devonshire street. 

6. Tremont Theatre, on Tremont street, built in 
1827, sold in 1842 to a Baptist Society; it was thence- 
forward known as the Tremont Temple. It was burnt 
in 1852, and again in 1879, but has maintained its 
present front for some thirty years. 

7. The Athenaeum. This view represents the 
dwelling-house of James Perkins, on Pearl street, 
given partly by him, in 1822, in aid of the society. 
In 1849 the library was removed to its present 
building on Beacon street. Business changes and the 
great fire have removed all traces of the Pearl-street 
building. 

8. Statue of Washington. This statue was made 
by Chantrey, at the request of an association formed 
for the purpose, and was first shown in November, 
1827. It is nov^ deposited at the State House, on 
certain conditions. 




©DIS OS']. 



xiLSjiiDiS'ir' a'i'x. 








L^^^_ 



b^ 



rgts .-^-c^agS 



-SJiY 'sj'-S- CiLiiJ 




J)ratfn- and En<Tr£iv&i- for Bowefi's Ii*Mtre- ot'MostoTi. 



27 ABEL BO WEN. 51 

9. Pine-street Church. No chronological order 
has been observed in these engravings, this church 
being the fortieth on the list. It was founded 
in 1837, 3-nd was given up a few years since, when 
the building was altered for business purposes. It 
stands on Washington street, corner of Pine. 

10. King's Chapel. One of the best-preserved 
and best-known memorials of old Boston. The first 
building, built in 1688, was of wood; the present, of 
stone, was built in 1753. 

1 1 . New Brick. This society was formed of seced- 
ers from the New North, in 1720. The Rev. William 
Waldron was its first minister. The Rev. Ebenezer 
Pemberton preached there from 1754 to 1775 ; at his 
death, 1779, the society united with the Second Church, 
or the Old North, the church of the Mathers, whose 
edifice had been destroyed by the British in 1775. 
Becoming Unitarian, the pastors were Henry Ware, Jr., 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Chandler Robbins. The 
house stood on Hanover, near Richmond street. In 
1844 it was torn clown, and a new building placed 
there, which was afterwards sold to the First Methodist 
Church, and later the building has been given up to 
business. The Second Church then settled in Freeman 
place, leading from Beacon street; in 1854 it united 
with the Church of Our Saviour, on Bedford street. 
This edifice was subsequently taken down and rebuilt 
on Boylston near Clarendon street. 

12. Chauncy-place Church. This house belonged 
to the First Church in Boston, originally located 
on State street; then, from 1640 to 1808, on Wash- 
ington street, where Joy's or Rogers' Building stands ; 
then on Chauncy place, from 1808 to 1868. The 
old building is entirely destroyed. The present church 
is on the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley streets. 



52 



ABEL BO WEN. 28 



13. HoLLis-STREET Church. Founded by the 
Rev. Mather Byles in 1732; it was first built of wood, 
and burnt in 1787. The second building, of wood, 
was removed in 18 10 to Weymouth. The church then 
rebuilt, of brick ; it has had for pastors John Pierpont 
and Starr King. In 1882 the building was sold, the 
society built on the corner of Newbury and Exeter 
streets, and the old edifice has been altered into a 
theatre. In 1887 the parish united with the South 
Congregational Church, the two occupying the New- 
bury street building. 

14. Christ Church, on Salem street, near Copp's 
Hill, was built in 1723, for the Rev. Timothy Cutler. 
It still remains an Episcopal church, and preserves all 
the evidences of its antiquity. 

15. St. Paul's Church, on Tremont street, be- 
tween Winter street and Temple place, was built in 
1820, and has suffered no exterior changes thus far. 

16. Trinity Church, Summer street, was estab- 
lished as an Episcopal church in 1734, under the 
Rev. Addington Davenport. The old building was 
replaced, in 1828, by the one here represented, which 
last was destroyed in the great fire of 1872. Its 
representative is the noted building on Boylston 
street, or Copley square, under the charge of the 
Rev. Phillips Brooks. 



2 5 ABEL BO WEN. 49 

1. The CiT\' Hall, better known as the old State- 
House, built in 171 2 on the site of a still older house; 
injured by fire in 1747; disused by the State, Jan- 
uary II, 1798; occupied as a City Hall 1830- 1840; 
used for business purposes till 1881 ; renovated and 
restored in 1882. The halls, of the greatest histor- 
ical interest, are now in charge of the Bostonian 
Society. 

2. Faneuil Hall, given to the town Sept. 10, 
1742, by Peter Faneuil; greatly injured by fire. Jan- 
uary 13, 1761 ; rededicated March 14, 1763 ; rebuilt 
in 1805, doubling the width of the area, and adding 
a third story. 

3. The Bethel Church, North square, was founded 
by the Rev. E. T. Taylor, a Methodist minister, in 
1829. The foundation of this building was laid Octo- 
ber 3, 1832. Father Taylor was especially devoted to 
the spiritual care of the seamen of this port, and was 
very successful. 

4. CusTOM-HousE. In 1 8 10 the Custom- House 
was removed from the corner of Flag alley and State 
street to a new building in Custom- House street. 
In 1847-9 the present building was completed and 
occupied, but the former edifice retains nearly the 
appearance here presented. 



5G ABEL BO WEN. 26 

5. The Odeon. This is the Federal-street Theatre. 
The first building was opened Feb. 3, 1794, burnt 
and rebuilt in 1798, closed in 1833, and its name 
changed to the Odeon. In 1846 it again became a 
theatre, and in 1852 it was torn down to make 
room for stores. A narrow alley behind the theatre 
and the other buildinofs on Federal street, from 
Franidin to Milk street, was widened, and became 
Devonshire street. 

6. Tremont Theatre, on Tremont street, built in 
1827, sold in 1842 to a Baptist Society; it was thence- 
forward known as the Tremont Temple. It was burnt 
in 1852, and again in 1879, but has maintained its 
present front for some thirty years. 

7. The Athenaeum. This view represents the 
dwelling-house of James Perkins, on Pearl street, 
given partly by him, in 1822, in aid of the society. 
In 1849 the library was removed to its present 
building on Beacon street. Business changes and the 
great fire have removed all traces of the Pearl-street 
building. 

8. Statue of Washington. This statue was made 
by Chantrey, at the request of an association formed 
for the purpose, and was first shown in November, 
1827. It is now deposited at the State House, on 
certain conditions. 




VX)'^ DOT. 








^^rClS C'l'H'JL'X'l' ^ 






:!S.JSVi'S, S-. tU\ ;'"5iIL^ 





_PraiPn r/ful Emiravul for IBoKin's Jictiire or'iestcin,. 



27 ABEL BO WEN. 51 

9. Pine-street Church. No chronological order 
has been observed in these engravings, this church 
beino- the fortieth on the list. It was founded 
in 1837, and was given up a few years since, when 
the building was altered for business purposes. It 
stands on Washington street, corner of Pine. 

10. King's Chapel. One of the best-preserved 
and best-known memorials of old Boston. The first 
building, built in 1688, was of wood; the present, of 
stone, was built in 1753. • 

1 1. New Brick. This society was formed of seced- 
ers from the New North, in 1720. The Rev. William 
Waldron was its first minister. The Rev. Ebenezer 
Pemberton preached there from 1754 to 1775; at his 
death, 1779, the society united with the Second Church, 
or the Old North, the church of the Mathers, whose 
edifice had been destroyed by the British in 1775. 
Becoming Unitarian, the pastors were Henry Ware, Jr., 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Chandler Robbins. The 
house stood on Hanover, near Richmond street. In 
1844 it was torn down, and a new building placed 
there, which was afterwards sold to the First Methodist 
Church, and later the building has been given up to 
business. The Second Church then settled in Freeman 
place, leading from Beacon street; in 1854 it united 
with the Church of Our Saviour, on Bedford street. 
This edifice was subsequently taken down and rebuilt 
on Boylston near Clarendon street, 

12. Chauncy-place Church. This house belonged 
to the First Church in Boston, originally located 
on State street; then, from 1640 to 1808, on Wash- 
ington street, where Joy's or Rogers' Building stands ; 
then on Chauncy place, from 1808 to 1868. The 
old building is entirely destroyed. The present church 
is on the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley streets. 



52 ABEL BO WEN. 28 

13. HoLLis-STREET Church. Founded by the 
Rev. Mather Byles in 1732; it was first built of wood, 
and burnt in 1787. The second building, of wood, 
was removed in 18 10 to Weymouth. The church then 
rebuilt, of brick ; it has had for pastors John Pierpont 
and Starr King. In 1882 the building was sold, the 
society built on the corner of Newbury and Exeter 
streets, and the old edifice has been altered into a 
theatre. In 1887 the parish united with the South 
Congregational Church, the two occupying the New- 
bury street building. 

»^ 

14. Christ Church, on Salem street, near Copp's 
Hill, was built in 1723, for the Rev. Timothy Cutler, 
It still remains an Episcopal church, and preserves all 
the evidences of its antiquity. 

15. St. Paul's Church, on Tremont street, be- 
tween Winter street and Temple place, was built in 
1820, and has suffered no exterior changes thus far. 

16. Trinity Church, Summer street, was estab- 
lished as an Episcopal church in 1734, under the 
Rev. Addington Davenport. The old building was 
replaced, in 1828, by the one here represented, which 
last was destroyed in the great fire of 1872. Its 
representative is the noted building on Boylston 
street, or Copley square, under the charge of the 
Rev. Phillips Brooks. 





a&i-Lj" s22EiS!sif» (sanausH s.mvms,iLc 




Drawn, and J^Tiaravtd rorBoivens Ficture ofjosto/i. 




IFIIliiaaAl sS'i'ialES'j; S3f'ff3iS3I 



'£i Si lii S HfSS 'X 'Jl ., 







J>ra>ert and Htutraveil /or SoifOi'sJ'eirture- oflBoston.. 



29 ABEL BO WEN. 53 

17. Federal-street Church was built in 1730, 
for a number of Presbyterians, (Scotch-Irish,) under 
the Rev. John Moorhead, The engraving represents 
the third edifice, which was dedicated in 1809. In 
the building which preceded this sat the Convention 
which adopted the Constitution of the United States in 
1788, a circumstance which gave its name to the street. 
The Unitarians held it under the Rev. William Ellery 
Channinor and the Rev. Ezra Stiles Gannett. The 
society removed to Arlington street, and the old 
building was taken down some years ago. 

18. The Old South, on the corner of Washing- 
ton and Milk streets, remains as a landmark. The 
first house, of wood, stood from 1670 to 1730, when 
the present church was built. In 1874 the society 
removed to a new house, on the corner of Boylston 
and Dartmouth streets, but the old building has 
been preserved as a relic. 

19. The New South stood on Church Green, at 
the junction of Summer and Bedford streets, and was 
founded in 171 7. In 18 14 the church here shown 
was built. It has been removed, and the society is 
practically defunct. 

20. Park-street Church, still a distinctive feature 
on the side of the Common, was built in 1809. 



54 ABEL BO WEN. 30 

21. The Federal-street Baptist Church, estab- 
lished in 1827, sold its building in 1845, ^•'"^d built a 
church on Rowe, corner of Bedford street. The Rev. 
Baron Stow was long- the pastor of this society, which 
now has a church on Clarendon near Tremont street. 

22. The West Church, on the corner of Cam- 
bridge and Lynde streets, bears witness to the time 
when that locality was the westerly end of the town. 
The first building stood from 1737 to 1806, when the 
present edifice replaced it. It has hardly changed 
since its erection, and Dr. Bartol, its pastor, was 
settled there in 1837. 

23. The Masonic Temple was dedicated May 30, 
1832. After about twenty-five years' occupancy, the 
Masons sold it to the United States Government for 
a Court-House. It has since been raised a story, 
remodelled, and fitted for business purposes. 

24. Mariners' Church, Purchase street, was built 
in 1830. It was near the summit of Fort Hill, and 
well adapted to attract the class for which it was 
designed. The church was burnt about 1852, and 
the society then bought the building of the First 
Christian Church, on the corner of Summer and Sea 
(now Broad) streets, while the latter society built 
a new house on the corner of Tyler and Kneeland 
streets. The Mariners' Church united with Salem 
street Church in 1871 ; both are now extinct. 





? g nr» iU\!, JU - .iVc-'g (.,".'<• 



■T^&'j 3:Kirjs.sji. 



;T ,n 'r !i,»fj 




Drawn uml Eiif/nitvd ffr Bpiims JHctirro of Rosrim. 



J, -.UXA iij^ ZA^\ gi,I.J.\ 



Qj^'£-Ji ij'Sj-J. sj,^ 




J£.M,^^ 



Iliuun tUiJ i'/u/rui'ftl fen' Si:>wai's FictweotMosten. 



31 ABEL BO WEN. 55 

25. Brattle-street Church, established in 1699, 
like the other old churches has occupied several 
building-s. The first, of wood, was replaced in 1772 by 
the long-familiar church here shown. A few years 
ago the old house was sold and torn down, the society 
removed to the corner of Commonwealth avenue and 
Clarendon street, and subsequently dissolved, the First 
Baptist Society purchasing their building. 

26. The Catholic Church, on Franklin street, 
called the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was conse- 
crated in 1803. The building stood long after business 
had invaded the street, but was sold some twenty years 
ago and gave place to stores. 

27. Bowdoin-Street Church was built in 1830 by 
a society formed under the Rev. Lyman Beecher, only 
five years before, and which had built and lost a 
house on Hanover street. After the long pastorates of 
Dr. Hubbard Winslow and Dr. Jared B. Waterbury, 
the church dwindled and dissolved. The house was 
bought by the parish of the Episcopal Church of 
the Advent, and subsequently passed into the hands 
of the '' Mission Church of St. John the Evangelist," 
and remains without external changes. 

28. The Central Universalist Church, corner 
of Bulfinch street and Bulfinch place, was formed in 
1823. The Rev. Paul Dean was its first pastor. 



56 ABEL BO WEN. 32 

29. The New North Church, corner of Hanover 
street and Clark street, was established by the Rev. 
John Webb, in 17 14. Andrew and John Eliot were 
successively settled here from 1742 to 18 13. When 
Hanover street was widened, this building was set 
back and enlarged. It is now St. Stephen's Church 
(Catholic). 

30. The First Methodist Church, built on North 
Bennett street in 1828. The society had previously 
worshipped on Hanover street. In 1849 it returned 
to that street, purchasing the edifice of the Second 
Unitarian Church (Dr. C. Robbins'), and sold this 
building to the Freewill Baptist Society, formerly 
located on Richmond street. Later it was bought 
by the Catholics, and is now called St. John the 
Baptist, and occupied by the Portuguese. 

Nos. 31 and 32 not being situated in Boston, it may 
be thought unnecessary to trace their present condition. 
It is evident that the artist did not try to give a full 
list of all the churches in Boston, at the date of his 
book. Fortunately, in the "Boston Almanac" for 
1843 and 1854, the task was acceptably performed, 
and in one or two later guide-books these cuts have 
been reproduced. A careful history of our churches 
is much to be desired, especially in view of the 
great changes made in the last ten years. 





/Jnain aii.l Kiu] ^ 1 t i f lu Hi tuu I Bo I i 




KEDUCKD FROM THE FRONTISPIECE TO "THE NAVAL MONUMENT." 

[See page 37. 1 




THE CONSTITUTION lAKIXG THE CYANE AND LEVANT. 




ESCAPE OF THE CONSTITUTION FROM THE BRITISH SQUADRON. 




THE HORNET SINKING THE PEACOCK. 




IHK JAVA SL'RKKNDEKING T<J I H E (. ( i.\ .-^ 1 U I I 1U.\ . 




ESCAPE OF THE HORNEL' FROM A BRITISH SEVENTV-FOL'R. 



® (Dsisa © ID ® m'a a 




iisr snjn issniii'iEiD saiiisiis 3S£^ynp 




FITCHBURG RAILROAD DEPOT. 




QUINCY HOUSE, BRATTLE STREET. 




MAINE RAILROAD DEPOT. 





PROVIDENCE RAILROAD DEPOT. 




OLD COLONY RAILROAD DKPOT. 




BOSTON MUSEUM (Interior). 




WORCESTER RAILROAD DKPdT 




BOSTON MUSEUM (Exterior, with one of the Paddock Ehiis.) 




lliiiiiiiiiyii|iiljii 
iBjii mwiil^iii 



OLD MARLBORO' HOTEL. 




ADVERTISING CARD, IN THE BOSTON DIRECTORY, 1820. 




EASTERN RAILROAD DEPOT. 





Impressions of the above cut will be found in some copies of The Young 
Lady's Book, printed in 1830. Subsequently Eowen engraved color blocks 
for this cut, which was perhaps the earliest use of wood cuts for color printing 
in Boston, impressions from which form the title for " Bowen's Picture of 
Boston." 




DR. FAUSTUS. 




FROM THE YOUNG LADY'S BOOK, 1830. 



Changes of Values in Real Estate 
in boston 

THE PAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

BY 

Alexander S. Porter. 



A Paper read before the Society, April 13, 1886. 



Cl^e 130)£Jtonian ^ociet^ 



CHANGES OF VALUES IN REAL ESTATE 
IN BOSTON 

THE PAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

I!Y 

Alexander S. Porter 



COLLECTIONS 



BOSTONIAN SOCIETY 



VOL. I. No. 3 



Changes of Values 

IN REAL ESTATE IN BOSTON 

THE PAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

READ BY 

ALEXANDER S. PORTER 

Ai'RiL 13, i8<S6 




BOSTON 

OLD S T A r E HOUSE 

1888 



CHANGES OF VALUES 



REAL ESTATE IN BOSTON 



THE PAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



w 



HEN I was informed a few weeks ago that I was to 
have the privilege of addressing the Bostonian Society 
on the change of values of real estate since the war of 
the Revolution, it was with feelings of satisfaction that I set 
about the task of gathering such information as seemed most 
fitting to emphasize these changes. But on looking into the 
records and attempting to study the history of the various 
properties that I had selected as examples of the wonderful 
rise in values that has taken place, I was overwhelmed with 
the gigantic nature of the task; for at every step and every 
turn I found our records full to overflowing with accounts of 
the most intense historical interest, and became really at a 
loss where or how to begin. 

It seemed to me that every stick and stone in the old 
quarter of the town was closely identified with the early 
struggles of our ancestors, and that every house had a history 
of its own ; so that in starting to follow up any particular 
point, I found myself delving deeper and deeper into the 
history of the lives of the people who were identified with it. 
I became as it were absorbed in reveries of the past and 



58 CHAXGES OF VALUES IN 6 

oblivious of the busy present. I have found myself within 
the sacred portals of the First Church that stood just here 
across State Street, where Brazer's building now is, and 
listened to those zealous Puritans, Wilson, Cotton, Winthrop 
and Bellingham. I have been with their followers to the ''Old 
Brick,'' and heard the sweet tinkle of the nine o'clock bell, 
which was placed in the little belfry in 1649. I have visited 
the stately mansions of Hancock and Bromfield, Bowdoin and 
Phillips. I have sauntered over the old North End, and 
witnessed the sacking of the fated house of Governor Hutch- 
inson on the night of the 26th of August, 1765. I have 
dined with convivial patriots at the Royal Exchange, Bite 
Tavern, and the Bunch of Grapes, and have listened to the 
magnetic eloquence of Otis and Adams and Quincy in these 
historic halls. 

I have said my catechism to the pious and eccentric 
Mather Byles, and have come out of the old Latin school 
house crushed and dejected under the rigid discipline and 
arithmetical conundrums of the relentless Master Lovell. 
But at last I have awakened from my reveries to find myself 
still uncertain as to where to begin. 

It would be impossible in half an hour's time to justly 
treat so broad a subject, and I can therefore give you but a 
slight idea of the marvellous changes that have taken place 
since 1800, v/hen Boston was a village, and of the causes that 
have intervened, which have brought it to its present promi- 
nent place among the cities of the world. 

When peace was declared in 17S2, the inhabitants of Bos- 
ton found themselves in the most deplorable condition. The 
population, which before the war numbered some 20,000 
persons, fell off during the siege to one-third of that number, 
and at the close of the war the population had only increased 
to 12,000. Commerce and trade of all kinds had received a 
terrible blow, and all looked gloomy and uncertain. But the 
brave men who had fought the great fight were not to be 
discouraged, and immediately began, with that same pluck 
and energy that had won in the great struggle for indepen- 



7 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 59 

dence, to put forth new energies to redeem their losses, and 
to put their houses to rights. 

The process was of necessity a slow one, and it was not 
till the advent of the new century that prosperity dawned 
again and a new life and a new spirit were made manifest. 

To properly understand the great changes that have taken 
place, let us for a moment look back to the Boston of eighty- 
five years ago. 

The map of this period will show us a small bluffy penin- 
sula — indeed, almost an island. There were, of course, 
Copp's Hill, Fort Hill, and Beacon Hill, towering up in 
their ancient glory, while at various intervening points the 
tide-water flowed up into the very middle of the town. The 
shores of the peninsula were deeply indented, and numerous 
large coves were thus formed, all of which have since been 
filled up and built upon, and now form important sections of 
a great and growing city. 

The most easterly of the coves mentioned, enclosed by the 
headlands of Copp's and Fort Hill, became the Town Cove 
and dock. To the South, was the South Cove, embraced 
between the point of land near the foot of South Street, for- 
merly called Windmill Point, and the South Boston bridge. 
The third inlet was called the Millpond, lying between the 
two points from which now extend bridges to Charlestown 
and East Cambridge. 

The Town Dock was partly filled in 1780, and several acres 
of valuable land were thus acquired, the original area of the 
town being about seven hundred acres. This was the Boston 
of 1800. There was no " South End," no " Back Bay." Only 
fancy what Boston must have been without those two opposite 
features ! No "Union Park," no "Chester Square," no north 
side of Commonwealth Avenue, no water side of Beacon 
Street. But, although society in those days was not divided 
by a railway, there were Beacon Hill and Fort Hill to divide 
the social honors. 

The population of Boston then numbered about 20,000 
persons. Business began to revive, and there were evidences 



6o CHANGES OF VALUES IN 8 

of prosperity on every hand. By 1810 the population had in- 
creased to 34,000. In 1820 to 43,000. In 1830 to 61,000. In 
1840 to 93,000. In 1850 to 137,000. In i860 to 177,840. In 
1880 to 362,839, with outlying wards acquired by annexation. 

Real estate has steadily risen in value along with the 
increase in population, as I will presently show you by a care- 
fully prepared schedule. By 1830 the population had increased 
so much that it was felt that the time had come when more 
room was needed, and soon afterwards the first grand real 
estate enterprise was inaugurated by the filling up of the 
South Cove. The company was chartered Jan. 31st, 1833, 
and $415,000 was subscribed. The work was begun May 3d, 
1834, under the management of Mr. Francis Jackson, and 
finished in November, 1837. Seventy-seven acres of good 
land were thus added. This land was laid out into streets 
and building operations were at once begun. The Worcester 
and Western Railroad had just been finished, and of this land 
it acquired seven and three-fourths acres. The seventy acres 
of flats acquired by the South Cove Corporation cost on the 
average only \2\ cents per square foot. 

By this time, or after the panic of 1837, the merchants had 
outgrown their business quarters, and during the next ten 
years there was great activity. Whole blocks of stores and 
warehouses, mostly built of granite, sprung up in every direc- 
tion, and although many that are left seem now dilapidated 
and old-fashioned, yet many wise men shook their heads when 
they were originally built, and predicted wreck and ruin to 
those who had been so adventurous as to put up such palatial 
structures. 

In 1845 the Cruft Block on Pearl Street was built. This 
comprised four four-story granite stores. The whole area 
had been previously occupied by Mr. Cruft as a residence. 

The Quincy and Brooks blocks on Pearl Street were built 
in 1847, each comprising four four-story granite stores. 

Milk Street Block, Bowdoin Block, Sewall Block, Morton 
Block, Lawrence Block and Old South Block, a block on the 
corner of Milk and Hawley and another at the corner of Milk 



9 BOSTOy REAL ESTATE. 6j 

and Atkinson (now Congress) Streets, comprising in all 
twenty-four stores, were all built in 1845 and 1846. 

Two large granite blocks on Federal Street were built by 
Abbot Lawrence in 1844-1845. Santo rd Block on Federal 
Street, consisting of six stores, was built by Samuel Sanford 
in 1846. A large granite block was built on Congress Street 
by Thomas Wigglesworth in 1845. The building at the corner 
of Washington Street and Spring Lane was erected in 1845 
by Ozias Goodwin. 

A large block was built in 1845 on the corner of Washing- 
ton and Boylston Streets by David Mosely, and the granite 
building on the corner of Washington and School Streets, now 
occupied by Richard Briggs, was built by David Greenough in 
1843. The building known as Amory Hall, on the corner of 
West and Washington Streets, was built in 1835, while the 
building next to it, cornering on Temple Place, was erected 
the year before. 

In 1835, twenty-eight brick stores were built on Tremont 
Street — opposite the Museum — between Beacon Street and 
Scollay Square. Temple Place was completed in 1844, and 
consisted of twenty-two fine houses. The first house. No. i, 
was built by the Hon. James Savage. 

The granite block on the corner of Washington and Winter 
Streets was built in 1846. Indeed, from State to Boylston 
Streets, Washington Street was the scene of great activity. 
Yet this activity was not confined to this section alone, for 
while all this work was going on, Fulton, Ferry, North, Union, 
Hanover, Ann, John, Barret, Court and Sudbury Streets were 
all alive with busy mechanics, and beautiful buildings were 
going up on every hand. It seemed as if Boston had worn 
out all its old clothes by 1840, and was determined to replenish 
its entire wardrobe. 

The following facts and figures will show the changes in 
value in Boston since 1800 — taking the assessors' estimates 
as a basis, and giving these values at intervals of twenty 
years. It has not been possible, however, to ascertain in 
every instance the estimates of 1800 and 1820. 



62 CHANGES OF VALUES IN lo 

To begin v/ith, let us take the well-known Concert Hall 
Estate, at the corner of Court and Hanover Streets. A large 
part of the estate was taken off by the widening of Hanover 
Street, but proper deductions have been made from the figures 
given. For 2525 square feet, the assessment in 1800 was 
$6,000; in 1820 it was $21,000; by 1840 it had still further 
advanced to $36,000; in i860 to $75,000; and in 1880 the 
assessors marked it up once more to $108,000, or eighteen 
times its value in 1800. 

Concert Hall was owned by the family of Deblois until 
1769. Before the Revolution it was a resort of the "Friends 
of Liberty." The American prisoners captured at Bunker 
Hill are said to have been tried here by a military court. 

Concerts were held here as early as 1755, and it was here, 
too, that Governor Hancock gave in 1778 his famous ball to 
the officers of D' Estaing's fleet. The Massachusetts Chari- 
table Mechanics' Association had their first meetings in Con- 
cert Hall. It was kept as a tavern in 1792 by James Vila, 
but in later days it passed into the hands of Peter B. Brigham, 
who had charge of it for forty years. 

In 1800, we find the value placed on the estate No. 23 
Court Street, belonging to Charles Francis Adams, at $12,000 ; 
1840, $19,000 ; in i860 it had reached $50,000, while in 1880 
the land alone was assessed at $118,000, or just fifteen times 
as much as in 1800. 

The Sears Building covers 11,000 square feet. The prop- 
erty was assessed in 1820 at only $24,200 ; In 1840 it was 
marked at $169,000 ; i860 at $258,000, while in 1880 the land 
alone was assessed at $490,000. Thus it will be observed that 
the value changed from a little over $2 per foot in 1S20 to 
$44^ per foot in 1880. 

This estate, formerly the property of Peter C. Brooks, was 
sold at auction March 15th, 1868, at $32 per foot, or $353,000. 
There is a memory that lingers around this spot which still 
remains dear to many a brother of the legal fraternity. The 
portion of the old building having its entrance at No. 4 Court 
Street, was occupied in times gone by, by many distinguished 



II BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 63 

members of the bar. In 1837 here were found Rufus Choate 
and F. W. Crovvninshield (partners,) Chas. Sumner and Geo. 
S. Hillard (partners,) Theophilus Parsons and Wm. G. 
Stevens, Horace Mann, Edward G. Loring, Benjamin Guild, 
Luther S. Gushing, John O. Sargent, P. W. Chandler, John 
Codman, T. P. Chandler, John A. Andrew and others. When 
Mr. George S. Hillard left the building in 1856 he bade fare- 
well to Number Four, in these graceful lines : 

The child that in the cradle slept, 
When first upon the stairs I stepped, 
Now strongly stalks across the land, 
With beard on chin and vote in hand. 

And I have passed from Summers prime 
To Autumn's sober shadowy time, 
And felt the throbs and knov^-n the strife, 
That slowly rear the dome of life. 

I hear no more the well-known feet. 
The kindly looks no more I greet ; 
But, ere I part from Number I'our, 
I leave my blessing at the door. 

WASHINGTON STREET. 

The estate at the corner of Washington Street and Temple 
Place, known as the Charles Blake estate, comprising 8650 
square feet, was assessed in 1840 at $48,000; in i860 at $90,- 
000; in 1880 the valuation was placed at $360,000, while in 
1885 it had increased to $425,600. This estate is now rented 
for $35,000 and taxes. An offer of $450,000 was refused in 
1884. 

The prominent estate known as the Richard Briggs corner, 
at the junction of Washington and School Streets, was 
assessed in 1800 at $10,400; 1820, $38,800; 1840, $58,000; 
i860, $96,000; but in 1880 the value had climbed to $190,000, 
or nineteen times the value in 1800. 

The Old Corner Bookstore on the other corner, containing 
3800 feet, was assessed in 1800 for $7,000 ; in 1840 at $40,000, 



64 CHANGES OF VALUES IN 12 

in i860 at $75,000, while in 1880 the valuation had reached 
$140,000, just twenty times the value of 1800. 

The Joseph T. Brown apothecary store on the corner of 
Washington and Bedford Streets, was assessed in 1840 at 
;^7,ooo ; i860, $32,500; in 1880, land alone at $53,000. 

Tuttle's shoe store and adjoining estates on Washington 
corner of Winter Streets, 7,500 ft. ; 1800, $2,400; 1820, $7,800; 
1840, $22,600; i860, $96,000 ; 1880, $350,000; 1885, $436,000. 
(Land alone $350,000.) A most remarkable advance. 

Joy's Building, now known as Rogers' Building, comprising 
5,200 square feet, was assessed in 1820 at $42,000; in 1840 at 
$75,000; in i860 at $160,000; 1880 at $262,000. As the 
site of the Old Brick meeting house, this estate is one of 
the most memorable in our early history. If I had sufficient 
time I would give you an account of the building of the Old 
Brick, and of the removal from the old church where Brazer's 
Building stands. But, while I shall not be able to do this, 
I cannot pass over this estate without reminding you of one 
interesting fact. The Old Brick stood for ninety-five years, 
till the year 1808, when it was deemed advisable to build a 
new edifice. 

The proprietors, owning an estate on Summer Street, em- 
powered two of the deacons to contract for the building of a 
nevv house, and on the 22d of September, 1808, they, — David 
Tilden and James Morrill, — made a contract with Benjamin 
Joy to erect a meeting house and four dwelling houses on 
Summer Street and Chauncy Place, in payment for which the 
deacons v/ere to convey to the said Joy the estate on Cornhill, 
now Washington Street, known as the Old Brick. Mr. Joy 
immediately went forward with the work, and when the church 
in Chauncy Place and the four houses were completed, the 
conveyance was made, February 22d, 1809. The property 
remained in the Joy family till April 6th, 1870, on which date 
it was sold to Charles O. Rogers for $280,000. 

Meantime Chauncy Street, and indeed all the neighboring 
streets, had been converted to business uses, and the First 
Church was forced once more to seek a more elisfible site. 



13 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 65 

The proprietors bought a lot on Marlborough Street and the 
present beautiful church was erected. The old church in 
Chauncy Street then coming into the market for sale, was 
purchased by Mr. Joy, the grandson of the same Mr. Benj. Joy 
who had built it in 1808. The fine granite warehouses now 
standing on the site of the old Chauncy Street Church were 
built soon afterwards by Mr. Joy, who owned them till 1881, 
when they were sold to Mr. Moses Williams. 

The Nath'l Curtis Estate, on the northeast corner of 
Washington and Dover Streets, has been in the Curtis family 
for at least one hundred and fifty years. It comprises about 
24,000 feet. It was assessed in 1800 at $7,000; in 1820 the 
value was marked down to $6,200; in 1840 it was put up 
to $15,600; in i860 to $40,000, and in 1880 it had reached 
^124,000, nearly eighteen times its value in 1800. 

Washington Street, corner Summer, occupied by Shreve, 
Crump and Low; 1820, $10,200 ; 1840, $37,000 ; i860, $155,- 
000 ; 1880, land alone, $268,000 — 6,740 feet, $40 per foot. 

All are familiar with the Deacon Estate, Boston Neck, and 
no doubt remember how long it was completely shut up, and 
shut out from public view. It comprised 24,600 square feet, 
and in 1850 it was assessed at $60,000 ; in i860 at $75,000; 
and in 1870 at $98,400. It was sold in 1870, after the death 
of Mr. Peter Parker, for $125,000 for the land alone. The 
building which originally cost upwards of $60,000, was sold at 
auction for $6,000, and was purchased by the person who had 
bought the land. The Child Estate, corner of Washington 
and Hollis Streets, was assessed in 1840 at $9,000; i860, 
$20,000; 1880, $45,600. No. I Temple Place, the Hon! 
James Savage's estate, 1840, $15,000; i860, $17,000; 1880, 
$54,000; (worth now $100,000.) 

The Tudor House, Beacon Street, corner Joy, covering 
three lots on Beacon Street, and four on Joy Street, sold in 
April, 1791, for $2,665; 1832, $98,000; in 1885, the Tudor 
House covering two lots, $102,000. No. 58 Beacon Street, 
formerly the residence of Mr. William Minot, was assessed in 
1820 for $9,000, in 1840 at $19,000, i860, $30,000, and in 1880 



66 CHANGES OF VALUES IN 14. 

at $44,000; about five times the value in 1S20. The David 
Sears Mansion House on ?3eacon Street, nov/ the Somerset 
Club, assessed in 1800 at $16,000; in 1820, (when the pres- 
ent building was in process of construction,) land assessed at 
$20,000; 1840, with the building, $48,000; i860 the value 
had risen to $110,000, and in 1880, to $172,500. It was pur- 
chased by the Somerset Club for $210,000. 

The Warren Estate, No. 2 Park Street, 1820, $15,000; 
1840, $24,000; i860, $28,000; 1880, $65,000. The Union 
Club House, on Park Street, which was bought in 1840 
by Abbot Lawrence, was valued in 1840 at $45,000, in 
1880 at $77,000. The Ticknor House, corner of Park and 
Beacon Streets, in 1830, $30,000; i860, $45,000; 1880, 
$70,000. 

The Puritan Club House, Mt. Vernon, corner of Joy Street, 
the mansion of the late Joseph lasigi, 1840, $24,000; i860, 
$33,000; 1880, $37,000. 

TREMONT STREET. 

Tremont Street, corner Temple Place, the old Masonic 
Temple; 1840, $34,000; 1880, Si8o,ooo for land alone. It 
was sold in 1885 for $255,000. Tremont, corner West Street, 
F. H. Bradlee estate; 1840, $21,000; 1880, $107,000. The 
Tremont House, 29,000 feet; 1840, $190,000; i860, $200,- 
000; 1880, $400,000, including Tremont Place additions made 
to the property. Tremont Street, corner Pemberton Square, 
(long occupied by Rogers' Shoe Store) ; 1840, $35,000 ; 1880, 
$130,000. Tremont Street, opposite Park Street Church, the 
granite block and Hamilton Place, formerly Phillips Garden, 
owned by Wm. Phillips ; 1800, $20,000 : 1820, $46,000 ; 1S40, 
$127,000; i860, $175,200; 18S0, $521,000. This does not 
include the north corner of Hamilton Place, for which the 
Phillips family paid $190,000. On Sept. 14th, 1795, the 
estate 163, 165, 167, 169, etc., Tremont Street, was sold by 
the city at auction. It was 70 feet front by about 100 feet,, 
running through to Mason Street, and containing about 17,000 
square feet. The consideration cited in the deed is ^1,940 of 



15 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 67 

late lawful money, $6,466.66, or about 2)3 cents per foot. It 
is now assessed at $22. per foot. 

It is just about fifty years ago that the Gardner Green es- 
tate, now known as Pemberton Square, came into the market, 
for the erection of elegant dwelling houses on the hillside 
and for stores on the Tremont Street frontage. It was the 
most princely place in Boston previous to that time. The 
grounds were laid out in terraces, and there were pleasant 
walks, summer houses and rare plants. It was last opened to 
the public on the occasion of General Jackson's memorable 
visit during the second term of his Presidency. It was really 
a magnificent old place, and was made historical in Cooper's 
novel of Lionel Lincoln. 

Estate No. 7 Pemberton Square, formerly the residence of 
John A. Lowell, was assessed in 1840 at $32,000, and in 1880 
at $46,500, which was far below its value. The C. F. Adams 
estate, Tremont Street, corner of Boylston, was purchased in 
1806 by J. O. Adams of John Lowell for §21,000. In 1820 
it was taxed for $12,600; 1840, $14,000; i860, $70,000. In 
1880 the land alone, $134,000. 

STATE STREET. 

The estate No. 40 State Street, known as the Union Build- 
ing, covering 11,000 feet; in 1800, $30,000; 1820, $62,000; 
1840, $151,000; i860, $320,000; 1880, $430,000 ; (building 
$100,000 and land $330,000.) No. 66 State Street, formerly 
the Massachusetts Bank, containing 5,45 i feet ; 1800 ; $30,000 ; 
1820, $52,000; 1840, $75,000; i860, $130,000; 1880, $195,- 
000. The marble Building, corner Devonshire, occupied now 
by First National Bank and others, 1800, $12,000; 1820, $24,- 
800 ; 1840, $42,000 ; 1S60, $90,000 ; 1880, land alone, $302,000, 
or twenty-five times as much as in 1800. The City Bank, 
State Street, next to the corner of Kilby Street, 1840, $60,000; 
i860, $86,000; 1880, $129,000. It was sold February 6, 1886, 
for $200,000 ; (building assessed $25,000.) Brazer's Build- 
ing, No. 27 State Street, covering 2,600 feet, 1820, $22,000; 
1S60, $125,000; 1880, $175,000. The Old State House, 



68 CHANGES OF VALUES IN i6 

covering 4,571 feet, 1820, $28,600; 1880, $235,000. No. 120 
State Street, 1820, $5,600; 1880, $22,000. The Merchants' 
Exchange, 16,900 feet, 1840, $115,000; i860, $360,000; 1880, 
$488,000, (the building $150,000,) land $388,000. The New 
England Bank Building at the corner of State and Kilby 
Streets, was valued in 1820 at about $30,000. It has just been 
sold to the Washington Insurance Co. for $250,000. On this 
site stood the famous old tavern known as the Bunch of 
Grapes, and few inns of that day had a more illustrious patron- 
age. In 1 71 2 it was kept by Francis Holmes, afterwards by 
Wm. Coffin, Joshua Barker and Col. Joseph Ingersoll, and at 
last by James Vila in 1789, who removed the same year to 
Concert Hall. It was here that in 1728 Gov. Burnett was 
received on his arrival in Boston. In 1776, after the reading 
of the Declaration of Independence, the Lion and Unicorn 
from the Town House, Court House, Custom House, and all 
other British emblems that could be found, were made into a 
bonfire in front of the Bunch of Grapes. Gen'l Lafayette was 
entertained here in 1784, and without doubt enjoyed a glass 
of punch, for which the house was specially noted. 

In the year 1650 this estate belonged to one Lane, who 
sold it to one Leverett in 1656. It passed through several 
hands after this, and in 1774 was purchased by John Erving, 
who sold it to Gov. James Bowdoin in 1788. The Governor 
dying in 1790, it passed to his wife and to his son James. At 
the death of James the estate was sold to the New England 
Bank, by his executors, T. L. Winthrop and Richard Sullivan. 

The city has always placed a valuation on its public build- 
ings, and the old Cradle of Liberty in 1820 was valued at 
$7,200, but had risen in 1880 to $250,000. T Wharf, called 
on the assessors' book Brimmer T; in 1800, $10,000; 1820, 
$43,600; 1840, $200,000; i860, $314,500; 18S0, $291,500. 
Long Wharf, 1800, $60,000; 1820, $90,000; 1840, $325,000; 
i860, $507,000 ; I S80, $486,600. 

Niles's Stable, School Street, 15,220 feet, 1840, $40,000; 
i860, with new building, $115,000; 1880, $350,000. The 
property on the corner of Rowe and Essex Streets now 



17 BOSTOX REAL ESTATE. 69 

Chauncy and Essex, was sold, Jan. 15th, 1S06, by John Rowe 
to John W. Bradlee, 3,200 feet, for $3,200. The land is now- 
assessed at S15.50 per foot, (Sold January ist, 1853, $13,200.) 

The mansion occupied by Montgomery Sears, Esq., corner 
of Commonwealth Avenue and Arlington Street, i860, $4 per 
foot ; 18S0, S9.50 ; 1885, ^13- This property, it will be remem- 
bered, can not date back beyond 1856; previous to that time 
it was occupied by tide water. No. 13 Louisburg Square, 
1840, $12,000; 1S60, 18,000; 1880, 14,500; No. 99 Sud- 
bury Street, corner of Court, was assessed in 1840 at $7,000 ; 
1880, the land alone, $45,000. No. 133 Summer Street, cor- 
ner of South, stood in 1840, $8,000; but in 1880 the land 
alone was marked at $58,000. 

The estateat the junction of Merrimac and Friend Streets, 
sold July, 1843, 3,000 feet, $5,935; August, 1854, $18,000; 
September, 1868, 32,500; November, 1885, $35,000; Feb- 
ruary, 1886, $40,000. Corner of Cambridge and North Russell 
Streets, 1840, $6,400; 1880, $14,700. 

The highest price ever paid for land in Boston, as far as I 
can learn, was that paid by Harvey D. Parker to Mr. T. O. H. 
P. Burnham, for the estate at the corner of Tremont and 
School Streets. There are 1,984 feet, and it brought $200,000, 
or a little over $100 per foot. 

The cheapest land ever acquired, as far as I have ascer- 
tained, was acquired by Harrison Gray Otis, on the westerly 
slope of Beacon Hill, said to have been obtained by right of 
squatter sovereignty. 

TOTAL VALUATION, CITY PROPER. 

The following figures from the assessors' books will show 
the advance in real estate valuation from 1800 to 1885 : 

1800 $6,901,000 1875 411,618,200 

1820 21,686,000 1879 340,480,900 

1840 60,424,200 1880 346,222,900 

i860 163,891,300 1885 390,815,700 



70 CHANGES OF VALUES IN i8 

Of this last amount, the Back Bay property so-called,) is 
$43,000,000. 

Real estate has always been a sure and safe investment in 
the long run. The old families of Boston owe much of their 
wealth of to-day to the steady, and in some instances enormous 
rise in the value of their houses and stores. To be sure there 
have been, and will be, periods of depression, when it v»'0uld 
seem that the more real estate one has, the worse it is for 
him ; but during all these depressions there is an undercurrent 
of growth that is quietly going on, which is sure to make itself 
felt v;hen the tide turns and the clouds pass away. 

I could go on indefinitely, giving examples of the great 
rise in the value of real property in Boston during this 
century. The assessors' valuation is not, indeed, a true valua- 
tion, but it is a guide, and the total valuation of the whole 
city tells the interesting story. 

For the causes which have led to this result, we have not 
far to seek. With the opening of new lines of travel and the 
building of bridges to the neighboring towns, the trade and 
population at once began to increase. In 1800 there were but 
twenty stages running out of Boston; in i8c6 there were 
thirty-five stages, and in 1847 two hundred and fifty stages 
and omnibuses. This appears to be the greatest number 
reached, for by that time seven railroads had forced their way 
into the city, and people from remote country towns found 
their way here every week instead of once a month as before, 
so that in that year, by both stages, omnibuses and railroads 
the passengers numbered daily 12,800. 

Thus a new life was imparted to the growth of Boston, 
and this growth has been still further augmented each year 
up to the present time. The advent first of the bridges, and 
afterwards of the stages, omnibuses, railroads, street-cars, the 
telegraph and telephone, have ail united to build up this 
prosperous city. The more people, the greater the demand 
for our houses, shops and warehouses. 

Moreover, it did not take long for the wise men of Boston 
to see that it was destined to be the centre of trade for all 



19 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 71 

New England. Taking advantage of the great water courses 
that were close at hand, they acquired them, and built up 
prosperous towns and even cities, that have been, and are 
still, by their manufacturing industries, contributing to our 
own wealth. 

And is not our future still as promising as the past } Are 
we not sure to go on growing and increasing in prosperity? 
Look around and see how we are pushing out in every direc- 
tion. Go where you may, and you will see new streets, new 
blocks of houses, new shops, new life, a busy, bustling throng. 
Everything new ! Yes, it seems the spirit of the age ; the old 
must be forgotten. But no, let us not forget all oi the old. 
Shall we ever lose the feeling of delight that we have, when 
by chance, we find the gates open so that we may quietly step 
in to the Granary or King's Chapel burial grounds, and linger 
over the quaint inscriptions on the headstones there .-' We 
have little left to remind us of our fathers and their early 
struggles, but let us hold fast to what we have. 

It is the instinctive love for these few relics of the memor- 
able past, that forms one of the well-springs of prosperity. 
They serve ever to remind us of the heroic period in the 
history of our native city, and as such ought to be preserved 
for the benefit of our children and future generations. 

Our landmarks we must preserve. This venerable house, 
the old Church at the North End, Faneuil Hall, the Old 
South Church, the Granary, King's Chapel and Copp's Hill 
burying ground, — they are historical monuments and memen- 
toes of Boston's past progress, patriotism and glory, that 
should never be effaced. 



THE CURTIS HOUSE AT JAMAICA PLAIN, AND THE APOSTLE 

ELIOT. 

Within an easy walk of the centre of the city there still 
stands a relic of the past — an ancient residence, one of the 
oldest inhabited dwellings of the country. I refer to the 
Curtis house at Jamaica Plain. 



72 CHANGES OF VALUES IN 20 

Believing that a brief sketcli of it may be interesting to 
the Society, I have gathered some information concerning 
it which I take pleasure in giving. The story has been told 
me by a member of the Curtis family, but for the most of it 
I am indebted to the notes of Benson J. Lossing, who has 
given such pleasant and faithful accounts of so many his- 
torical buildings and personages of America. 

The Curtis house, shaded by a gigantic elm tree, stands 
on the banks of Stony Brook, near the Boylston station on 
the Boston and Providence Railroad. On March 13, 1638, 
the town of Boston gave William Curtis permission to build 
his house, which was finished and occupied by him in 1639. 
From that time till 1883 William Curtis's descendants have 
resided there. It is doubtful if there is another case on 
record where the same dwelling has been occupied by the 
same family for almost two hundred and fifty years. The 
region in which the Curtis house was built was then a heavily 
wooded country, abounding in wild deer, bears and wolves. 
In the old house, until a short time ago, might have been 
seen a pair of antlers, taken from the head of a buck that was 
shot from the door yard. Twenty years after the house 
was built twenty shillings were paid to William Curtis for 
for shooting a wolf. 

The great elm, it is said, was planted by one of the family 
a hundred years ago, but its doom is undoubtedly sealed, and 
like the Paddock elms, and those that have just been snatched 
from us in Pemberton Square, it soon must go. The timbers 
of the Curtis house are of massive oak, cut from the farm, 
and put together with wrought-iron nails. The building is 
two stories high, the roof sloping to the ground in the rear. 
The windows are small and set with small panes of glass, 
although originally the glass was diamond-shape and set in 
leaden sashes. The furniture was massive, and much of it 
came down from Pilgrim days through six generations. 

It is well known that the Curtis house was the rendezvous 
of the distinguished men of the time, and no doubt John 
Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, Richard Bellingham, John Endi- 



"^-*" 










,<-i 



rt-TTfin-^^ 










^i'- 



"♦^ji^^jlg^^ 



THE OLD CURTIS HOUSE, 

(.Near Boylston Station,) 
JAMAICA PLAIN. 



21 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 73 

cott, John Leverett, William Dinsmore and Simon Bradstrect 
were frequent visitors there. Certain it is that the Apostle 
Eliot was closely identified with this famous mansion, as we 
shall presently see. 

William Curtis, the original owner, was a native of Nasing, 
Essex County, England. He was born near Waltham Abbey, 
the remains of which stand on the banks of the Lea near 
London. This abbey and its neighborhood have a peculiar 
interest to American students of New England history. In 
the parish of Nasing, John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, 
the translator of the Bible into the Indian tongue, who 
labored so long and faithfully among the heathen of New 
England, was born in 1604; and there William Curtis and 
Sarah, sister of the apostle, were married in 16 18. Mr. Cur- 
tis and his family came to Boston in 1632, in the ship Lyon. 
They were acccompanied by Mary Eliot, a young sister of 
Mrs. Curtis. There came also another young woman, who 
was a neighbor and friend of the Curtises, This was Anne 
Mountfort, the affianced of John Eliot, who had come over 
the year before. Believing in his goodness, she followed him, 
and they were married soon after her arrival. The Curtises 
and Eliots were thereafter closely identified, and the great 
preacher was a constant visitor at the Curtis mansion. I will 
not venture to go into an account of the earnest and faithful 
career of the good John Eliot, but an exceedingly interest- 
ing history of his life and labors was published in 1828, by 
William Oliphant, Edinburgh, to which those who are in- 
terested may refer. 

As before mentioned, the Curtis house was built in 1630. 
General Washington occupied it for a short time at the 
beginning of the Revolutionary war. Among the numerous 
ancient dwellings still standing in New England may be 
mentioned the Craddock house at Medford, built in 1634; 
the Mudge house at Swampscott, also built in 1634 ; the 
Whittier house (the birthplace of the poet), Haverhill, and 
the Saltonstall house at Ipswich, both built in 1635 ; the 
Fairbanks house at Dcdham, built in 1636 ; the Pierce house 



74 BOSTON REAL ESTATE. 22 

at Dorchester, built in 1640; the Aspinwall house at Brook- 
line, built in 1660 ; the Adams house at Quincy, built in 
1720; the Longfellow house at Cambridge, built in 173S) and 
the "Old Manse" at Concord, built in 1775. 

William Curtis was the ancestor of most of the persons of 
that name in the United States, and from him and Eliot have 
descended many persons of distinction. In every war of our 
country, descendants born in the old mansion have partici- 
pated. Its association with remarkable events, its great age, 
and its perfection as a specimen of the second period of New 
England architecture, give to the Curtis house a rightful 
claim to a place among the historic buildings of America. 
It stands as a precious relic of the heroic age of our republic, 
and as such it ought to be preserved. 

Let us while we may, do what we can to save it. Will not 
the lovers of these picturesque reminders of bygone days join 
in the effort .'' 



Note. The appeal was in vain, for since the above was 
writtten this famous old mansion has been demolished and 
the Curtis house is no more. But the beautiful elm still 
stands, and let us hope that it may long remain as a reminder 
of the past. 



INDEX. 



1. INDEX OF NAMES. 
INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Adams & Rhodes 33 
Adams, Charles F. 24, 62, 67 

John Q. 67 

Samuel 58 
Aiken 31 
Alexander F. 40 
Allen, James 1 1 
Amory, R. G. 32 

Thomas C. 22 
Anderson, A. 36 

Alexander 31 
Andrew, John A. 63 
Andrews, Joseph 35 
Annin, W. B. 36, 41 
Aspinwall 74 

Bancroft 5 

Banister, Annesley 12 

Chamberlin 12 

Frances 12 

John 12 

Samuel 12 

Thomas 11,12 
Barker, Joshua 68 
Bartol, Cynis A. 54 
Barton, James 14 
Beecher, Lyman 55 
BelHngham, Gov. Richard 58, 7; 
Bennett, 45 

Bewick, Thomas 32, 44 
Billings, Hammatt 35 



Bingham, Caleb 33 
Birch, T. 36 

Blackstone. [See also Blakeston, 
Blakiston, Blaxton.] 

Hugh 17 

John H. 16 

Lorenzo [Mayor] 16, 19, 25 

Roger 17 

Sarah (Stevenson) 19 

Sir Francis 20 

Sir Matthew 16 

Sir William t6-20, 22 

Sybel ( ) 18 

Thomas 18 

William Nicholas 18 
Blake, Charles 63 

F. 37 
Blakeston 22 
Blakiston, John 16, 17 
Blaxton, James 19 
John 19, 24 
William 3-25 

Abstract of Title 12 

Admitted Freeman 7 

Books and Papers burned 5 

Canonical Coat 5 

Character of 3 

Comes to America 6 

Estate II, 12, 24 

Graduates at Emmanuel 5 

Granted Land in Boston 7 



78 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Blaxton, William {confd) 

Grant at Muddy River 7 

His Indian Neighbors 24, 25 

His Tomb 25 

In Merrymount 23 

Marriage 19 

Orchard 24 

I'arentage, Clues to 4, 16, 19 

Prominent Residents on his Estate 
24 

Removes to Providence 8 

Site of his Residence in Boston 8- 
II, 14, 24 

Spring 14-16 

Traditions 23 
Bonner 11, 16 
Bowditch 4, 5, 7, 10 
Bowdoin, James 45, 58, 68 
Bgwen, Abel 29-56 

Begins Engraving in Boston 32, 33 

Blocks,Owned by Bostonian Society 
37 

Comes to Boston 38 

Death of 47, 48 

Estimate of his Work 47 

Examples of his Engravings 33, 41- 
43. 49-56 

His " Picture of Boston " 29, 41, 42, 
46, 49-56 

His Pupils, Names of 35 , 

Illustrates Snow's History 39 

Pedigree 30 

Portrait of, opp. 29 

Publishes " New Guide to Boston " 
46 

Daniel 30-32, 35-38 
Portrait of, opp. 32 

Delia 30 

Delia (Mason) 30 

Edwin 30 

Eliza 30 

Eliza (Healy) 48 
Portrait, opp. 29 

George P. 38 

Henry 30 

John 30 



Bowen {confd) 

Juliet 30 

Lorenzo 30 

Mary 30 

Mason 30 

Olonda 30 

Romeo 30 

Sidney 30, 35 

Sophronia 30 

Thomas 30 
Bowes, Elizabeth 17, 18, 20 

Frances 12 

Sir George 17 

Sir William 12, 20 
Boynton, George W. 44 
Bradlee, F. H. 66 

John W. 69 
Bradstreet, Gov. Simon 8, 73 
Braman 45 

Briggs, Richard 61, 63 
Brigham, Peter B. 62 
Brockatt, Mary 10, 12 

Peter, 10, n 
Bromfield 58 
Brooks, Peter C. 62 

Phillips 52 
Brown 35 

G. L. 46 

Joseph T. 64 
Bullock, Abel 38 
Burgiss II, 14, 16 
Burke, Sir Bernard 18 
Burnett, Gov. William 68 
Bumham, T. O. H. P. 69 
Burrage, William C. 30, 32 
Butts, Mrs. 30 
Byles, Mather 52, 58 

Callendar 31 
Canonchet 24 
Chandler, Peleg W. 63 

T. P. 63 
Channing, William E. 24, 53 
Chantrey, Sir Francis 50 
Child 65 
i Childs 35 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



79 



Choate, Rufus 63 
Chorley, John 41 
Clap, Roger 15 
Clark 35 

Claxton, Alice 17-20, 22 
Cobb, Gershom 34 
Codman, John 63 
Coffin, William 68 
Conyers, Anne 18 
Cooper, Si(;Astley 40 
Copley, John S. 10, 12, 24 
Come, E. 36 

M. 36 
Cotton, Edward 39 

John 58 
Cradock 6 
Craig, Daniel H. 44 
Cromwell, Oliver 16 
Croome, William 35, 44 
Crosman 35 

John C. 44 
Crowninshield, F. W. 63 
Cruft, 60 
Cullum, John 41 
Cummings & Hilliard t^t,, 36 
Cunningham, Nathaniel 12 
Curtis, Nathaniel 65 

Sarah (Eliot) 73 

William 72-74 
Gushing, Luther S. 63 
Cutler, Timothy 52 

Davenport, Addington 52 
Davis, Eleanor 40 
Dean, Paul 55 
Dearborn, N. 32, 34 

S.37 
Deblois 62 
Denison, Major 25 
D'Estaing, Count 62 
Devereux 35 

N. B., Jr. 44 
Dinsmore, William 73 
Doyle, W. M. S. 31, 32 
Drake, Samuel G. 15, 29, 47 
Dudley, Thomas 72 



Dunlap 35 

Eckley, Rev. Dr. 31 
Edgewood, Maria 40 
Edwards, Thomas 40, 41 
Eliot, Andrew 56 

John 56, 73, 74 

Mary 73 

Sarah 73 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 5 1 
Emmons 35 

Endicott, John 6, 19, 72 
Erving, John 68 
Ewer, Charles 37 

Fairbanks, Elijah 37 
Faneuil, Peter 49 
Fanning, J. B. 36 
Fitzralph, Cecilia 17 
Foster, John, Jr. 39 
Fowle, George 35 
Franklin, Benjamin 31, 42 
Fulthorpe 18 

Gamwell, Prest. 25 
Gannett, Ezra S. 53 
Gibbons, Edward i3 
Goodwin, Ozias 61 
Gorges 12 

John 6 

Robert 6 
Graham 18 
Green, Gardner 67 
Greene, John 13 
Greenough, David 61 
Greenwood, E. A. 32 
Guild, Benjamin 63 

Hall, 35 

John H. 44 
Hancock, John 58, 62 

Thomas 8 
Hartwell, Alonzo 35, 44 
Harvard, John 46 
Healy, Eliza 38, 48 

Portrait of, opp. 29 



8o 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Ililliard, George S. 63 
Holmes, Francis 68 
lloogland, W. 36, 40, 41 
Hopkins, Stephen 14 
Hunt, Freeman 44 
Hutchinson, Gov. 58 

lasigi, Joseph 66 
Ingersoll, Joseph 68 

Jackson, Andrew 67 

Francis 60 
James I. 21 
Jefferson, Thomas 20 
Johnson 40 

Edward 5, 13 

Isaac 13 
Jones, Mrs. Isaac T. 48 
Joy, Benjamin 64, 65 

Kelly 35 
Kidder, J. 45 
Killinghall 18 
Kilburn, S. S. 35 
Kimball, Moses 32 
King, Starr 52 
Kyle, Joseph 48 
Engraver of plate opp. 30 

La Fayette, Gen. 45, 68 
Lane 68 
Lambton 21 
Lathrop, John 15 
Laud, Archbishop 5 
Lawrence, 34, 35 

Abbott 61, 66 
Lawson, Barbara 17 
Lechford 6 
Leverett 68 

Gov. John II, 14, 73 
Lincoln & Edmands 33 
Lloyd 35 

Loring, Edward G. 63 
Lossing,;Benson J. 72 
Lovell, Master 58 
Lowell, John 67 

John A. 67 
Lytherland, William 8 



Madison, James 20 
Manley 21 
Mann, Horace 63 
Mason, Delia 30 
Mathers, The 51 
Maverick, Samuel 23 
McKenzie, Alexander 38 
McLean 24 
Miantonimo 25 
Minot, William 65 • 

Moore, Capt. 38 

Thomas 40 
Moorhead, John, 53 
Morrill, James 64 
Morse, Hazen 41 
Mosely, David 61 
Motley, John L. 23, 24 
Mountfort, Anne 73 
Mudge 35 
Munroe, James 46 

William 35 
Munroe & Francis t^t, 
Musgrave 18 

Nahanton 7 
Ninnicroft 25 

Odlin, John 8 
Oldham, John 6 
Oliphant, William 73 
Otis and Mason 10 
Otis 24 

Harrison Gray 69 

James 58 

Parker, Harvey D. 69 

Peter 65 
Parkman, Francis 24 
Parsons, Theophilus 63 
Pemberton, Ebenezer 51 

Thomas 13, 14, 29 
Pendleton, John 39, 40 

William S. 40 
Penniman 40 

J. R. 36 

Pepys, Richard 7, 9, 11, 12, 16 



TNDEX OF NAMES. 



8i 



Perkins, 35 

Jacob 40 

James 50 
Phillips, John 24, 58 

William 66 
Phipps, Mrs. Benjamin 30, 38, 48 
Pierpont, John 24, 52 
Place, Elizabeth 18 
Pollard, Anne 9, 10, 23 

William 9 
Prescott 24 
Prince, Thomas 29 
Putnam, Charles 35 

Quincy, Josiah 29, 58 

Randolph, Edmund 9 
Robbins, Chandler 51, 56 
Rogers, Charles O. 64 
Rowe, John 69 
Ruggles 35 
Russell, Benjamin -},t, 

Sanderson, Mrs. 30 
Sanford, Samuel 61 
Sargent, John O. 63 
Savage, James, 61, 65 
Sears, David 24, 66 

Montgomery 69 
Sewall, S. 8 

Shaw, Charles 14, 29, 39 
Shreve, Crump & Low 65 
Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. 15, 29 
Sibley, John L. 45 
Skillen 31 
Smith, George G. 36, 41 

Hugh M. 12 

Jerome V. C. 41 

Richard 5 
Snow, Caleb N. 15, 29, 39 
Stevens, WiUiam G. 63 
Stevenson, John 19 

Sarah 19 
Stow, Baron 54 



Strathmore, Earl of 21 
Stratton, William F. 41 
Sullivan, Richard 68 
Sumner, Charles 63 
Surtees 17, 19 

Taylor, E. T. 49 
Tilden, David 64 
Tudor, Frederick t^t, 
Tuttle 5, 17 

Uncas 24 

Vila, James 62, 68 
Vinal, Mary 10, 12 

Wait 35 
T. B. 33 

Waldron, William 51 
Walker, Robert 8 
Ware, Henry, Jr. 51 
Washington, George 20, 73 
Waterbury, Jared B, 55 
Webb, John 56 
Wesley 37 

West & Richardson t^t^ 
Wheally, John 11 
Whipple, 24 
Whittier, John G. 73 
Wigglesworth, Thomas 61 
Wightman, 36, 37 
Williams, Moses 65 

Nathaniel io-i2 

Sarah 11 
Willis, George 35 
Wilson, John 58 
Winslow, Hubbard 55 
Winthrop, John 3, 6, 14, 15, 58, 7; 

Thomas L. 68 
Wood 13 
Wright, Judge Edwin 10 

Young, Alexander 15 



II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS. 



American Coffee House 32 
American Magazine 44 

List of Engravings in 44-46 
Ashon, Essex, England 1 1 
Attleboro' 22 

Bannister's Garden 9, 16 
Barton's Point 4, 8, 14, 15 
Blackstone's Bull 23 

Garden 1 1, 16 

Neck [or Point], (Boston) 6-8, 13- 

15 

R.I. 7 

River 22 
Blakiston Manor House, England 17, 

20 
Blue Laws 1 1 
Bonner's Map 1 1, 16 
Boston, Bi-Centennial 41 

Beacon Plill 7, 15, 59 

Bewick Company 44, 46 

Bunch of Grapes (Tavern) 32, 58, 68 

Columbian Museum 31, 32, 38' 

Common 7,9, 11 

Copp's Hill 59 

Crescent (Frog Pond) 42 

Faneuil Hall 43, 49, 68, 71 

Female Asylum 31 

Fire of 1872 44 

Fort Hill 59 

Fox Hill II, 15 



Boston (cojifd) 

Franklin Monument 42 

Magazine 39 

Map of, Bewick Company's 46 

Memorial Plistory of 47 

Mercantile Buildings in 60 

News-letter 40 

Old State House 42, 49, 67 

Population of, 17 82 59 

Records 10 

South Cove Company 60 

Topographical Notes 59-62 

Town Dock 59 

Town House burned 10 

Town Pump 42 

West Hill 16 

Windmill Point 59 
Bowditch's "Gleaner" 4 
Bowen's Boston News-letter 40 

Naval Monument 36 

New Guide 46 

Picture of Boston 29, 41, 42, 46 
Branford, Ct. 19 
Brighton 38, 45 
Brookline 74 

Buildings in Boston, etc.. Engravings 
of, by Bowen 49-56 

Athenaeum 50 

Bethel Church 49 

Bowdoin-street Church 55 

Brattle-street Church 55 



INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS. 



83 



Buildings in Boston, etc. (conCd) 
Cathedral (Roman Catholic ) 55 
Central Universalist Church 55 
Chantrey's Wasliington 50 
Chauncy-place Church 51 
Christ Church 52 
City Hall 49 
Custom House 49 
Faneuil Hall 49 
Federal-street (Baptist) Church 54 

(Unitarian) Church 53 
First Baptist Church (Chelsea) 56 

Methodist Church 56 
Ilollis-street Church 52 
King's Chapel 51 
Mariners' Church 54 
Masonic Temple 54 
New Brick Church 51 

North Church 56 

South Church 53 
Odeon 50 
Old South Church 53 

State House 49 
Park-street Church 53 
Pine-street Church 51 
St. Paul's Church 52 
Temple (Quincy) 56 
Tremont Theatre 50 
Trinity Church (Summer Street) 52 
West Church 54 
Bunker Hill Monument 42, 45, 46 
Burgiss' Map 8, 11, 14, 16 

Cambridge 15, 45, 46, 74 
Cambridgeport 45 
Cape Ann 23 

Changes in Values of Boston Real 
Estate 57-74 

Beacon Street 65, 66 

Concert Hall 62 

Court Street 62 

Park Street 66 

Pemberton Square 67 

State Street 67 

Tremont Street 66 

Washington Street 63-65 



Charles River 6, 11, 13, 14 
Charlestown 6, 7, 12, 45 

Records 13, 14 
Chelsea 46, 56 
Concord 74 
Continental Money 31 
Curtis House, Jamaica Plain 71-74 

Dearborn's Boston Notions 34 

Dedham 73 

Deposition of Anne Pollard 9, 10 

Deposition of OdHn 8 

Description of Boston 34 

Dorchester 74 

Durham, England 17, 18, 22 

Edinburgh, Scotland 73 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Eng. 
5. 17 

Fort Independence 45 
Fresh Pond 45 

Geography of Boston, Snow's 42 
Gibside Manor 20, 21 
Gorges Patent 6, 12 
Greenbush, N. Y. 30 

Hale's Survey of Boston 34 
Hartford, Ct. 25 
Harvard College 45 
Haverhill 73 
Hudson, N. J. 33, 38 

Ipswich 73 

Lithography introduced into Boston 39 
London, England 16 
Lonsdale, R. I. 25 

Maps : — 

Bewick Company's 46 
Bonner's 11, 16 
Burgiss' 8, 11, 14, 16 
Wood's 12 



84 



INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS. 



Medford 73 
Merrymoiint 23 
Milford, N. Y. 30 
Muddy River 6, 7 

Narrangansett Bay 25 

Nasing, England 73 

New England Palladium 32, 34 

New Haven, Ct. 19 

New Jersey Currency 31 

New York City 31, 36 

Newcastle, England 19 

Newport, R. I. 25 

Newtown 7 

Noddle's Island 13 

Norwich, Ct. 16, 25 

Notions, Dearborn's Boston 34 

Orangefield, Ireland 16 
Otego, N. Y. 30 

Pawtucket River 7 

Philadelphia 31, 48 

Plymouth 23 

Providence, R. I. 5, 7, 8, 14, 23, 24 

Quincy 45, 46, 56, 74 

Rehoboth 23, 24 
Roxbury 12 



Salisbury, England 16 

Sand Lake, N. Y. 30 

Saugus 6 

Seekonk 24 

Shaw's Description of Boston 34 

Shawmut 7, 13, 22, 23 

Snow's Geography of Boston 42 

History of Boston 30, 39, 43 

Picture of Boston 42 
Stonington, R. I. 24 
Stoughton 12 
Strawberry Bank 23 
Study Hill 5, 22, 24 
Suffolk Deeds 19 
Survey of Boston, Hale's 34 
Swampscott 73 

Taminy Hill, R. I. 25 
Thompson's Island 13 
Trimountain 7 

Wallingford, England 16 
Waltham Abbey 73 
Weymouth 6 
Wickford, R. I. 5 
Wood's Map 12 

N. E. Prospect 13 
Worcester, Mass. 37 

Young's Chronicles ,13, 15 




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